India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 scripted history by successfully landing on the lunar surface at 6:04 pm on 23 August 2023.
Key points
- With the Lander accomplishing a ‘soft landing’ on the Moon’s south pole, India becomes the only country to have ever done so.
- India also became the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the moon after the United States, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
- When the lander touched the lunar surface, there were euphoric celebrations at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru.
- The successful landing has erased the painful memories of failure of the Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander in 2019.
- The mission’s three objectives were to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate a Rover roving on the Moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
- Soft landing simply means landing at a gentle, controlled speed to not sustain damage to a spacecraft. Doing so showcases a spacecraft’s technical capabilities. The landing site is near the south pole of the moon at 70 degrees latitude.
- All of the previous spacecraft to have landed on the Moon have landed in the region near the Moon’s equator, firstly because it is easier and safer here.
- The polar regions of the Moon, however, are different. Many parts lie in a completely dark region without sunlight, and temperatures can go below 230 degrees Celsius. This creates difficulty in the operation of instruments.
- In addition, there are large craters all over the place.
- The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.
- The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
- The southern polar region of the Moon is known to have deep craters that remain in permanent darkness, with a high likelihood of having water-ice.
- The legs of Chandrayaan-3 have been strengthened to ensure that it would be able to land, and stabilise, even at a speed of 3 m/sec, or 10.8 km/hour.
- The prospective landing site had its range increased, this time. Instead of trying to reach a specific 500mx500m patch for landing as targeted by Chandrayaan-2, the current mission was given instructions to land safely anywhere in a 4kmx2.4km area.
- The Chandrayaan-3 Lander carried more fuel than Chandrayaan-2. This was done to ensure that the Lander is able to make a last-minute change in its landing site if it needs to.
- The Chandrayaan-3 Lander has solar panels on four sides, instead of only two in Chandrayaan-2.
