Asianet News Dialogues: 'Vikram's hop test was not planned; it was something very phenomenal'

Two weeks ago, scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation successfully performed a hop test wherein the Vikram lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 mission was fired up to elevate and soft land again on the Moon. Following this manoeuvre, Vikram's lander and its payload went into a power-off mode, hoping to be reactivated when the sun comes up again on the lunar south pole. However, ISRO's top scientists are now saying that performing the hop test was not a part of the mission.

Taking part in a special edition of Asianet News 'Dialogues', Chandrayaan-3 Project Director P Veeramuthuvel and Deputy Project Director Kalpana Kalahasti said that their teams worked for almost 24 hours to ensure the hop test was a success.

"The hop was not part of our plan. This was actually suggested by our Director (URSC) M Sankaran and ISRO chief S Somanath. They said that this should be a precursor to the sample retention. This pushed our teams to the limits to conduct this test. In fact, we worked for almost 24 hours continuously to conduct this test," Veeramuthuvel said.

"This test is like a huge success. We did not have much confidence. We had to fire our engine in an open loop way, then it had to hop towards the upward direction and land in a small lateral motion. So this was something very phenomenal because all the legs were not equally placed on the ground. Terrain resistance is involved at the time of liftoff. So many challenges we had. But the Director (URSC) and ISRO chief said they are behind us in conducting this test. It is a huge success," he added.

Watch the full interview above.