New Delhi, India

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath provided a big update on the Chandrayaan-3 mission on Tuesday (August 8) as he assured that Vikram lander will be able to make a soft-landing on the Moon's surface on August 23. 

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He claimed that the landing is certain even if all the sensors and two of its engines do not work. The Vikram lander is expected to descend on the moon on August 23.

Somnath was speaking during an interaction hosted by the non-profit organisation Disha Bharat, as he said that the design of the lander is such that it would be able to handle failures. The interaction was on the topic — 'Chandrayaan-3: Bharat's Pride Space Mission'. 

Also read: Chandrayaan-3 completes maiden orbit reduction, gets closer to Lunar surface 

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Somanath said: "If everything fails, if all the sensors fail, nothing works, still it (Vikram) will make a landing. That's how it has been designed -- provided that the propulsion system works well." 

The mission was launched on July 14 by the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 rocket. It is now placed in a 170 km by 4,313 km elliptical orbit around the moon and a series of manoeuvres are planned for August 9 and 17 to place it in a 100 km circular orbit. 

ISRO chief said on Monday that India's third lunar mission "Chandrayaan-3" is in good health. He said that its most critical phase will be the orbit determination process when the spacecraft starts moving closer to the moon from the 100 km circular orbit. 

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Also read: ISRO releases video of the moon captured by Chandrayaan-3 as it enters lunar orbit

Somanath told PTI: "Up to 100 km we do not see any difficulty. The issues are only an estimation of the position of the lander accurately from Earth. This measurement is a very critical measurement, we call it the orbit determination process. If it is correct, the rest of the process can be done." 

"We are able to bring it down very correctly this time. The orbit changes are happening as planned. There is no deviation. So, it shows excellent results and we are hoping that all will be fine," the ISRO chairman added. 

(With inputs from agencies)

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