On August 23rd, 2023 at 6:04 PM, Chandrayaan-3 was the first spacecraft to have soft-landed on the Moon’s south pole. ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) has been working hard to make this mission successful for almost 4 years until it was finally launched on July 14, 2023.
One of the mission’s goals was to complete a soft landing on the moon, which posed a difficult challenge to the mechanisms of the vehicle. The spacecraft has to go from a high velocity and gradually reduce the speed the closer it gets to the moon, allowing for a gentle touchdown with the moon’s surface. Furthermore, the spacecraft had to search for an area void of craters or any deformed land to touch down, all without the help of humans. Without these accomplishments, the spacecraft would crash into the moon, the landing potentially inflicting damage on the hardware and technicalities of the ship.
In the past, Chandrayaan-2 was unsuccessful due to the lander losing control before landing on the moon’s terrain, destroying the weak legs that usually connect with the surface to preserve the mission. Therefore, before Chandrayaan-3 was launched, the legs were reinforced to be able to land the spacecraft at 10.8 kilometers per hour (Indian Express News). Along with this modification, the lander was changed to hold more fuel in case the landing site would need to be altered to ensure a safe landing bare of any rocky territory. Two more solar panels were added to the previous two of Chandrayaan-2, ensuring that the spacecraft would still draw on solar power even if it landed incorrectly.
Landing on the moon’s south pole was particularly significant to the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Earlier, most lunar missions landed near the equator, which ensured a safer landing due to the smooth topography of the moon’s surface. But space research organizations were becoming more interested in landing near the south pole, where the trapped fossil records of hydrogen, water ice, and other resources from earlier on could help scientists make discoveries on the solar system. These areas seemed to have preserved many years of history due to the extreme cold temperatures, keeping most minerals, resources, and objects frozen in place. The most important aspiration of the Chandrayaan-3 is to look for areas with water for future human inhabitation on the moon.
The Team leader of ISRO, S. Somanath, took up the project on January 14th, 2022, leading his team members to learn from the failures of Chandrayaan-2 and make Chandrayaan-3 as successful as possible. When talking about the mission, he mentioned, “Instead of focusing on achieving success, we focused on eliminating failures” (Times of India). According to Kalpana K, the deputy project director of Chandrayaan-3, the team had been busy, constantly testing and retesting prototypes and revising configurations to acquire the best possible outcomes. Through the exceptional achievements of the team, India joined the “Space Race” along with the USA, China, and Russia, making history on the moon.
A rover from Chandrayaan-3 named Pragyaan was released from the lander, Vikram, carrying two instruments. One of these instruments would help study the minerals located on the moon’s surface and the other would aid in deducting the chemical composition of the soil (BBC News). These instruments were adapted to fit the cold temperatures of the poles, where other, less-equipped ones might have deactivated from the frigid weather. Pragyaan would then send information to Chandrayaan-2 to send back to Earth.
Through the determination of Indian Space Research Organization, the ingenious design of the lander, and the aspirations of India to carry out scientific research on the surface of the moon’s south pole, Chandrayaan-3 triumphantly carried out their objectives, releasing Pragyaan to report crucial studies back to Earth, hoping for more discoveries in south pole to support (human) missions in the future.
