Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, India's latest ambitious mission has successfully landed on the moon making India the 4th nation to make a soft approach to the lunar surface.
After India's failed attempt in 2019 to set foot on the moon, it succeeded in carrying out its plans today at 5:34 am. PT (3:34 p.m. Greek time) on Wednesday. The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed more than a month after its launch, making India the fourth nation in the world to successfully land on the moon.
The Soviet Union, the US and China and the countries that have already set foot although three days ago Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft was destroyed during the landing attempt leaving debris (i.e. garbage) on the lunar surface.
The landing took place at the moon's south pole, which remains an unexplored region that is expected to help understand the moon's atmosphere and pave the way for future space exploration programs.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon via his post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We are glad to be your partner in this mission!” He wrote.
Chandrayaan-3, the third version of India's Chandrayaan ("moon" in Sanskrit) mission, aims to demonstrate safe landing and rover on the lunar surface and conduct on-site scientific experiments.
The spacecraft, developed on a budget of less than $75 million, includes a propulsion unit, lander and a rover carrying a total of seven scientific instruments.
To overcome the problems faced by its predecessor, Chandrayaan-3 includes improved sensors, software and propulsion systems. ISRO also conducted a series of simulations and additional tests to ensure a higher degree of landing durability to achieve a successful landing.
The aircraft will conduct experiments on seismic tremors, lunar temperature, thermal conductivity, elemental composition and spectral emissions of the Earth.
USA preparing to embark on a mission with a crew to the lunar south pole, called Artemis III, as soon as 2025. The knowledge gained from the Chandrayaan-3 mission in India will help to understand the surface before a human landing.
In June, India signed NASA's Artemis Agreements to collaborate with participating countries in space exploration. NASA is also set to provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and send them to the International Space Station next year.
Additionally, ISRO and NASA are also working closely to launch a low-Earth observatory (LEO) in 2024 to map the entire planet in 12 days and provide consistent data to analyze changes in its ecosystems Land, ice mass, plant biomass, sea level and natural disasters and hazards.
