India conquers moon; spacecraft lands on south pole
BENGALURU, INDIA
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An Indian spacecraft made its landing on the moon on Wednesday, the country's space agency said, creating a historic milestone for its space mission.
The Chandrayaan-3 project's Vikram spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said. This is India's second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon.
The moon landing has made India the first country to land a spacecraft on the lunar south pole, the finest moment till date of its space programme.
India has now joined a small and exclusive club of countries that have managed to soft land on the Moon. So far, the club has three members — the United States, the erstwhile Soviet Union and China.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India's success and called it a huge step for the country and the global south. “This is the dawn of new India,” Modi said. “We are witness to the new flight of new India… a new history has been written. This is historic moment and sounds the bugle for a developed India,” he said. The PM also congratulated ISRO and its scientists for the “unprecedented” feat.
No probe has ever explored this region on the ground, though Chandrayaan-3 won't be the first to give it a shot. Russia's Luna-25 lander crashed on Saturday (Aug. 19) while performing an engine burn designed to set up a Monday (Aug. 21) landing try.
The lunar south pole, which is thought to be rich in water ice.
Vikram will deploy a small rover named Pragyan onto the gray dirt. The two robots will then study their surroundings for about one lunar daytime (roughly 14 Earth days), using a variety of science instruments.
The country's first attempt, in 2019, was unsuccessful; the nation's Chandrayaan-2 lander suffered problems during its descent and smashed into the gray dirt.
Chandrayaan-2 wasn't a complete failure, however. The mission also sent an orbiter to the moon, which remains active today. In fact, Vikram has established two-way communications with the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, according to ISRO.
