Russia's Luna-25 crash will have no impact on Chandrayaan-3 mission: Indian space scientists

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Russia's Luna-25 moon mission will have no impact on ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 lunar venture, according to top Indian space scientists. The Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said on August 20. «It does not have any impact,» K Sivan, who was heading ISRO when the Chandrayaan-2 mission was launched in 2019, told PTI on Monday when asked if ISRO would be under additional pressure ahead of the soft landing, following the Russian setback.

Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander module with a rover in its belly is expected to touch down on the surface of the Moon around 6.04 pm on Wednesday, ISRO had said on Sunday. «It (Chandrayaan-3 mission) is going on as per plan. It (soft landing) will be done accordingly, Sivan said.

„We are hoping that this time (unlike Chandrayaan-2) it (the touchdown) will be successful“. Former ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair dismissed talk in some quarters that India and Russia were engaged in a race to the Moon, and termed the crash-landing of Luna-25 as unfortunate. »I know the (lander) module.

It was ready way back in 2008. When I visited the lab (in Russia), they showed me the module. They didn't have the resources to fly (then), so it had been kept in cold storage for a long time.

Now only they had resources (to launch)," he told PTI. Ruling out any impact on the Chandrayaan-3 mission launched on July 14, Nair said India's venture is totally self-sufficient and «we are not dependent on them (Russia)». Right now, India's space cooperation with Russia is limited to training of Indian astronauts for the Gaganyaan human space flight mission.