ISRO delayed Chandrayaan-3’s launch by four seconds to avoid massive collision in space
India's LVM3-M4 rocket, which carried the Indian moon mission Chandrayaan-3
India’shistoric mission to the Moon could have met a disastrous fate in the sky had scientists not been able to make a vital calculation to avoid a devastating collision, theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) revealed Monday (Apr 29). It was all because ofISRO’sproactive and decisive space management thatthe Chandrayaan-3 mission could be savedand successfully executed as akeydecisionwas takeneven before the rocket liftedoff.
What happened?
It all happened on July 14, 2023,the daywhenISRO’sChandrayaan-3was scheduledfor launch.Just when thescientists were about to press the launch button,a potential threat in space was detected.
ISRO’smission control team observed that ifthe mission was launchedat the scheduled time, it could intersect with the trajectory of a piece of space debris.
Weknow,thatobjects fly in space with high velocityandtheycan break spacecraft and satellites into pieces irrespective of their size upon collision.
The solution
The ISRO team came up with a simple yet effective solution.They decided to delay the launch bya mere four seconds, which wasenough to steer clear of the potential collision.
This decisionwas basedon a detailed Collision Avoidance Analysis (COLA) as part ofISRO'sstandard Launch Clearance Protocol.
“For LVM3-M4/ Chandrayaan-3, the nominal lift-off had to be delayed by 4 seconds based on COLA analysis to avoid close approaches between a debris object and the injected satellites in their orbital phase due to overlapping operational altitudes,”ISRO revealed ina detailed blog poston its website.
Significance
The last-minute manoeuvrenot onlyshowed the threats posed by space debrisbut alsodemonstratedISRO’sability to identify and overcome such challenges.
ISROinits Space Situational Assessment Report (ISSAR)revealed how it deploys advanced technologies and strategic planning to maintain such safety standards.
In its report, the space agency said it carried out 23 such collision avoidance manoeuvres to safeguard its assets in the space.
(With inputs from agencies)