India On The Moon: Chandrayaan-3 Makes Historic Soft-Landing On Lunar South Pole

Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the Moon at 6:04 pm IST on August 23, 2023. All the phases of descent during the ‘15 minutes of terror’ were successfully completed.

India Over The Moon: Chandrayaan-3 has landed softly on the Moon’s south pole, making India the first country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the Moon at 6:04 pm IST on August 23, 2023. All the phases of descent during the ‘15 minutes of terror’ were successfully completed. Chandrayaan-3 underwent initial preparation, velocity reduction, orientation change, attitude hold phase, fine braking, final descent, and touchdown. Powered descent began after the automatic landing sequence was initiated.

After the Vikram lander successfully landed on the lunar south pole, the sensors signalled the computer onboard the spacecraft. The Pragyan rover will be rolled out three-and-a-half hours after the lunar dust has settled down.

Chandrayaan-3 will perform experiments on the ice and explore how these reserves could be used to extract water, oxygen and fuel for future crewed missions to the Moon.

Since the lunar south pole is similar to Earth’s diversity, exploring it will allow scientists to obtain insights into how the Earth was billions of years ago, and if it will be possible to colonise the Moon in the future.

The lander's payloads are Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) Rover, and Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA). 

ChasTE will carry out measurements of thermal properties such as thermal conductivity and temperature of elements on the lunar surface near the south pole; ILSA will measure the seismicity around the landing site and describe the structure of the lunar crust and mantle; and RAMBHA will study the gas and plasma environment.

The rover is equipped with two payloads, which are the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). 

APXS will help determine the elemental composition of the lunar soil and rocks around the landing site. The elements to be studied include magnesium, aluminium, silicon, potassium, calcium, titanium and iron. 

LIBS will conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis in order to infer the chemical and mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3 will operate on the Moon for about 14 Earth days.