India awaits Chadrayaan-3 moon landing days after Luna-25 crashes in Russia
India will make its second attempt to land on the moon on Wednesday, a mission said to be crucial to lunar exploration and the country’s position as a space power, just days after a similar Russian lander crashed.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 will attempt to land on the lunar south pole around 18:04 local time (12:34 GMT) on Wednesday, less than a week after the failure of Russia’s Luna 25 mission.
India’s mission – Chandrayaan means ‘lunar vehicle’ in Hindi and Sanskrit – is the second attempt to land there. In 2019, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter, but its lander crashed.
“Landing at the south pole (of the moon) would actually allow India to explore whether there is water ice on the moon. And that’s very important for cumulative data and scientific understanding of the geology of the moon,” said Carla Filotico, a partner and managing director at consulting firm SpaceTec Partners.
The anticipation and excitement leading up to the landing was high on Wednesday, with headlines in the newspapers and news channels counting down to the landing.
Prayers were held in temples, mosques and churches across the country, and schoolchildren waved the Indian tricolor while waiting for live broadcasts of the landing.
According to media reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will watch the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the ongoing BRICS summit.
Rough terrain makes landing at the South Pole difficult and a first landing would be historic. The region’s water ice could provide fuel, oxygen, and drinking water for future missions.
For India, a successful moon landing would mark its rise as a space power as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government seeks to boost investment in private space launches and related satellite-based companies.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
(Except for the headline, this article was not edited by NDTV staff and was published from a press release.)
