Chandrayaan-3: All you need to know about the Vikram lander

(Image: ISRO)

Named after Vikram Sarabhai, the Indian physicist regarded as the father of the Indian space programme, the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 will soft land on the lunar surface at a specified site in the South Pole of the Moon around 6.04pm on August 23.

The spacecraft's Lander Module (LM) consists of two parts - the Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). The lander will deploy payload rover to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

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If the lander succeeds, India will become the fourth country with the ability to soft-land on the Moon's surface, and the first country to reach the Moon's uncharted south pole.

Learning from the failure of Chadrayaan-2 in 2019, ISRO Chairman S Somnath said that the Vikram lander will be able to make a soft-landing on Moon's surface even if all of its sensors or two engines fail to work.

Vikram's main mission after completing the soft-landing will be to deploy the Pragyan rover, which will carry out scientific studies of the lunar surface.

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Vikram features laser and RF-based altimeters for studying altitudes, velocimeters to measure velocity, laser gyros, navigation and guidance control systems, hazard detection and avoidance, and landing leg mechanism.

According to the PTI, the process of soft-landing will be crucial and described as '17 minutes of terror', being completely autonomous. Vikram will have to automatically calculate fuel, fire engines at the right times, and scan the surface for any anomalies before touching down.