Chandrayaan 3 makes historic Moon landing in giant leap for India
Chandrayaan 3 makes historic Moon landing in giant leap for India : ISRO’s Vikram lander successfully soft-landed on Moon’s south pole — an unchartered territory that scientists believe could hold important reserves.
At 6.04pm on Wednesday, India scripted history by becoming the first nation to land the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the Moon’s south pole, days after a Russian probe Luna-25 crashed in the same region.
Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit, touched down near the little-explored lunar south pole. A previous Indian effort – Chandrayaan-2 – failed in 2019.
The solar-powered rover ‘Pragyaan’ will explore the surface and transmit data to Earth over its two-week lifespan.
Chandrayaan-3 took much longer to reach the Moon than the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days.
The solar-powered rover will explore the surface and transmit data to Earth over its two-week lifespan.
India is using rockets much less powerful than the ones the United States used back then, meaning the probe had to orbit the Earth several times to gain speed before embarking on its month-long journey.
The lander, Vikram, which means “valour” in Sanskrit, detached from its propulsion module last week and has been sending images of the Moon’s surface since entering lunar orbit on August 5.
