The water, frozen in shadowy craters, could possibly be transformed into rocket gas and even ingesting water for future crewed missions.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, presently in South Africa for the BRICS Summit, watched the touchdown nearly and shared broadcasted remarks on the livestream.
“On this joyous occasion…I would like to address all the people of the world,” he mentioned.
“India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone. This is a year in which the world is witnessing India’s G20 presidency. Our approach of one Earth, one family, one future is resonating across the globe.
“This human-centric strategy that we current and we signify has been welcome universally. Our moon mission can also be primarily based on the identical human-centric strategy,” Modi added.
“Therefore, this success belongs to all of humanity, and it’ll assist moon missions by different nations sooner or later.”
India’s attempt to land its spacecraft near the lunar south pole comes just days after another nation’s failed attempt to do the same.
Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft crashed into the moon on August 19 after its engines misfired, ending the country’s first lunar landing attempt in 47 years.
As Chandrayaan-3 approached the moon, its cameras captured photographs, including one taken on August 20 that India’s space agency shared Tuesday. The image offers a close-up of the moon’s dusty gray terrain.
India’s lunar lander consists of three parts: a lander, rover and propulsion module, which so far has provided the spacecraft all the thrust required to traverse the 384,400-kilometre void between the moon and Earth.
The lander, called Vikram, completed the precision maneuvers required to make a soft touchdown on the lunar surface after it is ejected from the propulsion module.
Tucked inside is Pragyan, a small, six-wheeled rover that will deploy from the lander by rolling down a ramp.
Vikram used its on board thrusters to carefully orient itself as it approached the lunar surface, and it slowly throttled down its engines for a touchdown just after 6pm IST (10.30pm AEST) as applause erupted from the mission control room.
The lander, which weighs about 1,700 kilograms, and 26-kilogram rover are packed with scientific instruments, prepared to capture data to help researchers analyse the lunar surface and deliver fresh insights into its composition.
Dr. Angela Marusiak, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said she’s particularly excited that the lunar lander includes a seismometer that will attempt to detect quakes within the moon’s interior.
Studying how the moon’s inner layers move could be key information for future endeavors on the lunar surface, Marusiak said.
“You need to ensure that any potential seismic exercise would not endanger any astronauts,” Marusiak said.
“Or, if we have been to construct constructions on the moon, that they might be secure from any seismic exercise.”
The lander and rover are expected to function for about two weeks on the moon’s surface. The propulsion module will remain in orbit, serving as a relay point for beaming data back to Earth.
Chandrayaan-3 has been a point of national pride and widespread interest across India. Crowds gathered at the launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state, and more than a million people tuned in on YouTube in July to watch the spacecraft take flight.
India’s mission has taken on even greater significance since Russia’s failed Luna 25 landing attempt. If Chandrayaan-3 is successful, India would also become the second country to land a spacecraft on the moon in the 21st century after China, which has put three landers on the lunar surface since 2013 — including the first to touch down on the moon’s far side. (The last US lunar lander, the crewed Apollo 17 mission, touched down in 1972.)
More than a dozen countries have plans for missions to the moon in the coming years, including a mission launched by Japan’s space agency — the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — that is expected to lift off later this month.
Landing on the moon, however, remains a challenging endeavor. India’s last attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon, during the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 mission, failed. And two commercial spacecraft have crash-landed on the lunar surface in recent times — one from Israel in 2019 and the other from Japan in April.
“There is little question that touchdown on the Moon is an actual problem,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement earlier this week.
“But the Moon presents nice scientific reward, which is why we have seen so many current makes an attempt to go to the floor once more. We’re trying ahead to all that we are going to study sooner or later, together with from India’s Chandraayan-3 mission.”
On Wednesday, Nelson also shared a congratulatory note on social media, saying, “congratulations to #India on being the 4th nation to efficiently soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your companion on this mission!”
India is also a signatory of the United States’ Artemis Accords, a document that outlines proposed rules of the road for future lunar exploration.
Russia and China haven’t signed the accords.
Source: www.9news.com.au
