![People celebrate at the Indian Space Research Organisation's mission control following the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. Credit: ISRO](https://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/india-landing.png)
People have fun on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s mission control following the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft. Credit: ISRO
India has successfully soft-landed a robotic spacecraft on the Moon, becoming only the fourth country to achieve this, and the primary to touchdown on the south pole region.
Chandrayaan-3 delicately touched down on the lunar surface at 8:34 a.m. EDT (12:34 UTC) Aug. 23, to start a planned 14-day mission, akin to one lunar day. The robotic lander and attached rover are designed to review the Moon’s surface on the south pole region, which is assumed to incorporate water ice in some areas.
“We’ve got achieved a soft landing on the Moon,” Shri Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, said in an announcement moments after confirmation of a successful touchdown. “India is on the Moon.”
The Chandrayaan-3 landing comes just three days after Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft experienced an engine glitch and crashed on the surface only a day before its planned landing. Luna 25 was also targeting the south pole region. The last time a Russian spacecraft attempted such a mission was back in 1976 in the course of the Soviet Union era.
India’s achievement is itself a follow-up to India’s previous landing attempt in 2019, which faced a setback on account of a software glitch that caused the spacecraft to crash just moments before it could safely land.
The previous Chandrayaan-2 mission launched in 2019 included an orbiter that continues to orbit the Moon, contributing useful data and insights.
Largely resembling its predecessor, the three,860-pound (1,750-kilogram) Chandrayaan-3 lander is supplied with a rover named Pragyan. Each are designed to operate for an estimated two weeks.
The mission’s launch occurred July 14 atop an LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The spacecraft’s journey to the Moon culminated Aug. 5 when it entered lunar orbit.
The solar-powered lander boasts three key payloads: Chandra’s Surface Thermosphysical Experiment, geared toward measuring the lunar surface’s thermal conductivity and temperature; an Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity to review seismicity within the landing area; and a Langmuir Probe to estimate plasma density and its fluctuations.
To further facilitate lunar studies, NASA provided a retroreflector array that can enable the bouncing of lasers for lunar ranging investigations.
The 57-pound (26-kilogram) rover, also powered by solar energy, is supplied with a Particle X-Ray Sectrometer and a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope to reinforce its scientific capabilities.
Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing elevates India’s position in space exploration, placing them because the second country within the twenty first century to attain a robotic lunar landing, following China’s series of successful missions since 2013.
The years between the Soviet Union’s 1976 Luna-24 mission and 2013 saw no lunar landings. But since 2013, there have been a complete of eight robotic landing attempts, with three happening in 2023 alone. The players have included China, India, Israel and Japan and Russia. The success rate has been mixed — half have failed with only China and India having been successful.
Notably, there are plans for as many as three more robotic surface missions later this yr, involving Japan and firms from america.
China has been a distinguished player in recent lunar missions, achieving success with Chang’e 3 in 2013 and Chang’e 4 in 2018, each of which involved rovers. The latter included the primary surface landing on the Moon’s far side.
Moreover, China’s Chang’e 5 mission in 2020 successfully returned lunar samples to Earth, the primary time in greater than 40 years.
Japan’s contributions are set to proceed with the upcoming SLIM mission, which stands for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon.” It’s scheduled for an Aug. 26 launch. Moreover, U.S.-based Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic Technology have missions within the pipeline, with launches planned for later this yr or early next yr.
Activity on and across the Moon, particularly near the south pole, is anticipated to extend over the subsequent several years with China and the U.S. each planning human missions before the tip of the last decade.
“India’s successful Moon mission is just not just India’s alone,” said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech following the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3. “Success belongs to all of humanity and can help Moon missions by other countries in the longer term. I’m confident that each one countries of the world, including those from the Global South, are able to achieving such feats. We will all aspire for the Moon and beyond.”