India has become the first country to land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole, a region that has never been explored before. The Chandrayaan-3 mission achieved a successful soft landing on Wednesday, joining an elite club of nations that have reached the Moon.
The lander, named Vikram after the founder of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), carried a rover called Pragyaan, which means wisdom in Sanskrit. The rover will conduct experiments and collect data on the lunar surface for 14 days.
The mission is a major milestone for India’s space programme, which aims to demonstrate its technological capabilities and scientific ambitions. It also hopes to find clues about the origin and evolution of the Moon, as well as the presence of water ice and other resources in the polar region.
The south pole of the Moon is considered to be a potential site for future human settlements, as it offers more sunlight and less extreme temperatures than other parts of the Moon. It also has craters that are permanently shadowed, which could harbour water ice and other volatiles.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on 14 July from the Sriharikota space centre in southern India. It took about a month to reach the Moon’s orbit, where it separated from the propulsion module that carried it. The lander then performed a series of manoeuvres to lower its altitude and select a safe landing site.
The final descent was a crucial and challenging phase, as the lander had to autonomously navigate and avoid obstacles on the rugged terrain. The landing was broadcast live by Isro and watched by millions of people across India and around the world.
The mission received congratulations and praise from various leaders and organisations, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said it was a proud moment for India and humanity. He also thanked Russia, which provided emergency aid and doses of the Sputnik V vaccine to India amid its Covid-19 crisis.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is India’s third lunar mission, following Chandrayaan-1 in 2008, which discovered water molecules on the Moon, and Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, which failed to land near the south pole due to a technical glitch. India is also planning to launch its first manned space mission, Gaganyaan, by 2022.