Chandrayaan 3 Triumph: A Historic Success as India's Lunar Mission Touches Down at the Moon's South Pole

Photo Credit: Reuters

India just made history with its Moon mission Chandrayaan-3! It touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04pm Wednesday, joining an exclusive club of four countries and becoming the first ever to reach the uncharted area. The lander module (Vikram) and 26kg rover (Pragyan) successfully made a soft landing near the lunar south pole, boosting India's space capabilities and coming in after a similar Russian lander crashed less than a week ago. 

Chandrayaan-2 crashed into the Moon's surface before its planned landing in September 2019, causing the Rs 600 crore mission to fail. Chandrayaan's first mission was back in 2008. Chandrayaan-3 was launched in July 2020 on an LVM-3 rocket on a 41-day voyage to reach close to the lunar south pole. The soft landing was planned days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon due to a spin-out of control. The lander and its six-wheeled rover (total mass of 1,752 kg) were designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days). The lander had several sensors to guarantee a safe touchdown, such as an accelerometer, altimeters, Doppler velocimeter, inclinometer, touchdown sensor, and a set of cameras for avoiding potential hazards and gaining positional knowledge. The lander had a compartment for the rover with a ramp to deploy it onto the surface.