Chandrayaan-3 launch was delayed by 4 seconds, ISRO reveals why

According to information released by the Indian Space Research Organization, Chandrayaan-3's liftoff had to be delayed by four seconds in order to prevent a potential collision with satellites and space debris.

"For LVM3-M4/ Chandrayaan-3, the nominal lift-off had to be delayed by 4 seconds based on COLA analysis to avoid close approaches between a debris object and the injected satellites in their orbital phase due to overlapping operational altitudes," ISRO said in a recent post.

The space agency declared that during the course of the nation's lunar mission, no alarmingly close encounters with other space objects were seen.

On Friday, ISRO published the 'Indian Space Situational Assessment Report' for 2023, evaluating the space environment, its potential future changes, and the risks associated with safe and sustainable space activities. One of the space situational activities is evaluating satellites and launch vehicles up close.

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It also brought attention to an increasing trend in the population of space objects, a sign of improved access to space and the expanding range of uses for space technology.

The study also described the space object proximity analysis that ISRO does for satellites in order to forecast when other space objects may get close to Indian space assets.

"In case of any critical close approach, collision avoidance manoeuvres (CAM) are carried out to safeguard the operational spacecraft," ISRO said.

On July 14, of last year, the Indian Space Research Organization's Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, launched Chandrayaan-3, the country's moon mission, complete with the lunar lander module Vikram and rover Pragyaan.

India made history on August 23, 2023, when it became the first nation to successfully land a craft close to the moon's south pole. One lunar day, or fourteen Earth days, was allotted to the tests.

Following the US, China, and the former Soviet Union, India became the fourth nation to master the technique of a soft landing on the moon with the touchdown.