Russia's Luna-25 crash will have no impact on Chandrayaan-3 mission: Indian space scientists
Bengaluru(PTI): The failure of 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.
"So, had it (Luna-25) landed, our data and their (Russian) data (collected based on experiments on the lunar surface) would have been complementary," he said.
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Ranchi: Death toll in Giridih accident rises to five
Giridih (PTI): The death toll in the accident in Jharkhand's Giridih, wherein a truck rammed into parked vehicles a day ago, rose to five with another person succumbing to injuries during treatment at a hospital in Dhanbad, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred on Friday evening at the main market within the Nimiyaghat police station limits, killing four people on the spot. Officials claimed the truck was being driven at a high speed, and the person at the wheel was in an inebriated state.
"One more person died during treatment at a hospital in Dhanbad late on Friday night. The deceased is yet to be identified," said Suman Kumar, the officer in charge of Naimyaghat police station.
The four who died on the spot were identified as Md Irshad (45), Sujeet Kumar (37), Ranjeet Kumar (33), and Santosh Kumar Mahto (27), all natives of Giridi. Seven people sustained injuries.
The truck was seized, and its driver has been held, the officer in charge of the Naimyaghat police station said.
Enraged locals put up a blockade on the Dumri-GT Road for two hours and demanded compensation for the kin of the victim. They also demanded no entry for heavy vehicles in the market at night.
Giridih's Deputy Commissioner Ramniwas Yadav inspected the accident spot and met those who were injured in the accident.
"The injured are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. I have directed the department concerned to prepare a detailed report on what led to the accident," he said.
