AUG 23, 2023
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India becomes the first country to land near the lunar south pole.
Here鈥檚 everything you need to know about this historic achievement 馃憞馃徎
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Following a 40-day voyage commencing from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh鈥攖he Chandrayaan-3 mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has achieved a successful landing, with a velocity lower than expected.
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, which successfully entered lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. On September 6, the Vikram lander was scheduled to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole. However, just moments before the expected touchdown, communication with the lander was lost.
Despite this setback, India鈥檚 efforts marked a significant step forward in lunar exploration.
With Chandrayaan-3, ISRO aimed to re-demonstrate a soft landing on the moon, study the lunar surface and understand the composition of the Moon in more detail.
Here鈥檚 why achieving a soft landing on the moon is a great challenge for any space agency:
1. Moon is 3.8 lakh km away from Earth. Communication in space is much much harder than in long-distance relationships
2. Extreme temperatures from 54掳C during the day to -203掳C at night
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3. Lack of atmosphere which makes it hard to slow down
4. Lunar dust that can disrupt entire systems
5. Moon鈥檚 unstable gravity can mess with the spacecraft鈥檚 orbit
Chandraayan-3 not only overcame these challenges but also predicted the intersection of the spacecraft and Moon鈥檚 trajectories accurately, which allowed for a near-perfect soft landing on a fated Wednesday evening, at 6:04 p.m. on August 23, 2023.
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