Unfair to call Chandrayaan Mission a failure, union minister tells RS

The Union Minister said there is not a single country which has been able to successfuly accomplish softlanding in less than two attempts

It is unfair to describe the "Chandrayaan Mission" as a failure as technologically the launch was successful, Union Minister of State for Department of Space Jitendra Singh said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The setback in the landing, he said, has only made India's resolve stronger and costs will also be cut in future missions.

Replying to a suppelementary in the Upper House during Question Hour, Singh said even advanced nations like the US, which started their space mission much earlier, could gain success in soft landing only in the eight attempt.

"Chandrayaan was a mission watched keenly by all Indians. There was some disappointment but it would be unfair to describe it as a failure...Technologically the launch was successful. Entry into the earth's orbit was successful. Then entry into the lunar orbit was successful. Orbiter is very much there...In the subsequent attempt this will cut down on the cost as well because the lander is also there," he said.

He said the Orbiter has functioned normally and only in the last about 30 kms "this incident took place, which I would not describe as a failure. This has made us wiser. The setback to the landing has only made India's resolve stronger."

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, "Despite setbacks in landing we must remember that Chandrayaan had quite a successful journey uptil now."

Scientific objectives were accomplished including moon surface mapping, topographical studies, radar based studies etc, he said.

Singh pointed out that soft landing could not be a success as in sceintific pursuits like this sometimes it is a matter of procedural method and processes.

He said there is not a single country which has been able to successfuly accomplish softlanding in less than two attempts.

"And so much so that the United States of America which started its space journey much much before us, many years before us when we were still singing the nursery rhyme 'Chanda Mama'...Even United States could manage soft landing only in eighth attempt. But we having learnt from the expereince of other nations," he said.

He said the data received from the Orbiter is being provided constinuously to the sceintific community.

In resposne to a query whether the launch was made to corelate with 100 days of Modi 2, Singh said the chronology and events of launch are designed through astronomical ways.