ISRO, India’s national space agency, is attempting a historic soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission near the moon’s water-rich south pole, only days after Russia’s Luna 25 crashed on the lunar surface
By Matthew Sparkes
23 August 2023
India will become only the fourth country to successfully land an intact craft on the moon if its Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touches down near the lunar south pole today. It will also become the first nation to explore the potentially water-rich polar region. UPDATE: The mission has now successfully landed. Read more: India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has landed near the moon’s south pole
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Chandrayaan-3, which takes its name from the Sanskrit word for “mooncraft”, took off onboard a Launch Vehicle Mark-III rocket from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on 14 July and has spent six weeks covering about 380,000 kilometres en route to the moon.
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The mission is now in lunar orbit preparing to land its Vikram lander at a spot with water reserves, which could help make a permanent lunar base possible.
The preceding Chandrayaan-2 mission ended in failure in 2019 when a software glitch caused its Vikram lander to crash into the moon’s surface. It was destroyed, along with the six-wheeled rover it contained, named Pragyan, that would have explored the moon’s south pole.
The earlier Chandrayaan-1 mission consisted of a lunar orbiter and a probe designed to deliberately hit the moon at speed, again targeting the south pole. India’s latest mission is designed to land softly and carry out scientific research.