Following the mission's success of Chandrayaan-3, India has burst into celebration with everyone reminiscing about the memories of former chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation K Sivan's emotional breakdown four years ago when Chandrayaan 2 had faced a setback with its failed soft landing attempt in September 2019.

Some answers has been given my ISRO Chief S Somanath has been given on many questions asked to him about the landing on the moon of Chandrayaan-3 and failing of the previous mission.

Here are some of the questions he was asked:

Why is it so difficult to land on lunar surface?

Compared to the Earth, Moon’s reduced gravity, very little atmosphere and lots of dust pose difficulties in landing.

– The lunar south pole is an area of interest for humans due to the presence of water molecules. However, the surface also has hazards like rocks and craters, which can make it difficult to identify safe landing sites within shadowed and dark surface regions.

– The ISRO explained that deep-space communication is also another challenge as the large distance from the Earth and the limited on-board and radio signals are weak with heavy background noises that need to be picked up by large antennas.

– Not only, the Moon’s reduced gravity a challenge, it is also ‘lumpy’ due to uneven mass distribution under its surface, making the attempt to orbit around the Moon a tough task, ISRO said.

Why did Chandrayaan-2 lander fail?

The ISRO’s ₹978 crore unmanned Chandrayaan 2 mission failed its objective after the lander ceased communication to the ground stations at an altitude of 2.1 km from the surface of the Moon.

– Soft landings, described by former ISRO chairman K Sivan, are “15 minutes of terror” which present a challenge due to the precise timing required for the rocket engine to fire.

– The firing attempts to “lower the lander carrying the rover down on the Moon, which has no atmosphere".