India Joins Elite Group with Successful Lunar Landing on the Moon

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On Wednesday, India achieved a significant feat in space exploration by landing a spacecraft in the largely unexplored vicinity of the moon’s south pole. Scientists believe this area may harbor essential reserves of frozen water and valuable elements, showcasing India’s burgeoning strength in technology and space exploration.

Contained within the lander was a rover, which touched the lunar surface at precisely 6:04 local time. This historic moment triggered enthusiastic cheers from the space scientists observing the event in Bengaluru, in southern India. After an unsuccessful attempt almost four years prior, India set a precedent by being the first nation to land near the uncharted south pole region. This accomplishment places India in an elite group, alongside the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, to have achieved a moon landing.

This success comes on the heels of Russia’s failed Luna-25 mission, which crashed into an uncontrolled orbit. It had aimed for the same lunar region, and had it succeeded, would have marked Russia’s first successful moon landing in 47 years. The head of Russia’s state-controlled space corporation, Roscosmos, attributed this failure to a loss of expertise resulting from a prolonged pause in lunar research since the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

The excitement was palpable throughout India, where throngs of people gathered around television screens in various public places. Many offered prayers and lit oil lamps on the previous day, imploring success for the mission in temples and religious sites, including the sacred city of Varanasi.

India’s Chandrayaan-3 — translated as “moon craft” in Sanskrit — embarked on its journey from Sriharikota in southern India on July 14. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) expressed earlier on Wednesday that the Chandrayaan-3 Mission symbolized an extraordinary advancement in India’s endeavors in space exploration.

The mission’s success was heralded as an inspiration for young explorers and a source of national pride. Many countries and private organizations express interest in the south pole region due to the potential presence of frozen water, which could benefit future astronaut missions.

Chandrayaan-3’s six-wheeled lander and rover module are equipped to deliver comprehensive data regarding lunar soil and rocks, including their chemical and elemental compositions. This achievement comes after the failed attempt in 2019, where a software glitch caused the mission to crash during its final descent.

India’s prior mission in 2019, costing $140-million, aimed to explore the permanently shadowed moon craters believed to contain water deposits. Nuclear-armed India’s successful mission corresponds with its rising global economic status, aligning with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an ascendant technological powerhouse. This moon mission further boosts India’s international reputation and Modi’s domestic popularity.

This feat also plays into the broader context of space competition with regional rival China, which has its ambitious plans, and the failure of other countries in recent lunar missions. Japan, too, is set to launch a lunar mission as part of an X-ray telescope project, and two U.S. companies aim for landings by year’s end. In the foreseeable future, NASA intends to take advantage of the south pole’s frozen water craters by landing astronauts in the region, highlighting the growing international interest in lunar exploration.

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More about lunar landing

• Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)
• Chandrayaan-3 Mission Overview
• NASA’s Plans for Lunar Exploration
• Details on Russia’s Luna-25 Mission
• China’s Space Program and Ambitions
• Japan’s Lunar Exploration Plans