The newest incarnation of India’s ambitious lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, has successfully landed on the lunar surface, making history after its predecessor failed in 2019.
The landing, which occurred at the planned time of 5:34am PT (6:04pm IST) on Wednesday, has made India the fourth nation in the world to make a soft landing on the moon, following the former Soviet Union, the United States, and China, and the first country to land on the lunar south pole, which remains an unexplored area that is expected to aid in the understanding of the moon’s atmosphere and pave the way for future space exploration programmes.
“Chandrayaan-3 is the result of the work done by thousands of scientists, engineers, our staff, industries, and support teams across ISRO and other places, other institutions,” said ISRO chairman S. Somanath following the successful landing.
Earlier this month, Russia sought to dethrone India by launching Luna-25, which was scheduled to land softly on the south pole before India’s Chandrayaan-3. However, after losing contact with Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, the spacecraft slammed into the moon on Saturday.
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The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on July 14 using its “Launch Vehicle Mark-III” vehicle. The launch took place from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the island of Sriharikota in southern India.
Chandrayaan-3, India’s third Chandrayaan mission (“moon vehicle” in Sanskrit), seeks to show safe landing and roving on the moon’s surface as well as perform on-site scientific investigations. The spacecraft, built on a budget of less than $75 million, consists of a propulsion module, lander, and rover, all of which contain seven scientific instruments.
To address the issues that plagued its predecessor, the lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission features upgraded sensors, software, and propulsion systems. ISRO also conducted a lot of simulations and extra testing to confirm the lander’s ruggedness for a successful landing.
Seismic vibrations, near-surface plasma, lunar temperature, thermal conductivity, elemental composition, and Earth’s spectrum fingerprints will all be investigated by the lander.
The United States is preparing to launch Artemis III, a manned mission to the lunar south pole, as early as 2025. The data gained from India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission will aid in understanding the surface prior to the human arrival.
Unlike the lander, the Chandrayaan-3 rover is identical to the Chandrayaan-2. The lander and rover will have a mission life of one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days on Earth.
Chandrayaan-3 arrives 14 years after India’s first moon landing mission, which discovered water molecules in the lunar atmosphere in 2008.
Although the Chandrayaan-2 lander-rover collapsed after touchdown, the orbiter is still in orbit and studying the moon. The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter assisted in pinpointing the landing site for the Chandrayaan-3 lander and will continue to relay signals to Earth for communication with the lander.
