Success
On Wednesday, the Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover of Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down softly on the lunar South Pole. India is now the fourth nation to successfully carry out a soft landing on the moon’s surface.
The accomplishment of Chandrayaan-3, according to former NASA official Mike Gold, is a testament to Indian ingenuity, human resources, and the qualities that will advance India. He added that the “relatively little amount of resources that India has used” makes Chandrayaan-3’s performance remarkable.
Mission of Chandrayaan 3
Over its 14 Earth days or one lunar day on the Moon, Chandrayaan-3 will perform several scientific investigations. The payloads of the Vikram Lander will monitor the density of variations in the near-surface plasma, which consists of ions and electrons, the temperature characteristics of the Moon’s surface close to the poles, the seismicity in the area surrounding the landing site, and the structure of the lunar crust and mantle.
Additionally, these payloads will conduct an experiment to study the dynamics of the Moon system. The payloads of the Pragyan rover will conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analyses to learn more about the lunar surface.
Recent Updates Of Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover
Pragyan Rover started its moonwalk on the lunar surface, according to a statement from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday. ISRO posted on X (previously Twitter): “Chandrayaan-3 Mission. “Chandrayaan-3 Rover to MOX and ISTRAC; Moonwalk has begun!”
Within hours of its historic touch-down close to the south pole of the Moon, India’s spacecraft’s lunar rover, “Pragyan,” slid down a ramp from the lander, according to Indian space authorities on Thursday as the nation celebrated its latest scientific success.
The government-run Indian Space Research Organisation announced that “India took a walk on the moon” and that the Chandrayaan-3 Rover would conduct 14 days of research, including examining the lunar surface’s mineral makeup.
Moon trek starts after Chandrayaan-3 Rover visits MOX and ISTRAC!
On 24 August 2023, ISRO also made available photos taken by the Lander Imager Camera moments before the spacecraft touched the Moon.
ISRO published a message on X saying, “Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon’s image just prior to touchdown.”
Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown.#Chandrayaan3 #ISRO pic.twitter.com/K6922vjlQi
— LVM3-M4/CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION (@chandrayaan_3) August 24, 2023
Moreover, ISRO posted pictures clicked by the Pragyan rover of the Moon’s surface on Instagram. Pragyan Rover left the Prints of Ashoka Pillar and ISRO symbols on the Moon’s surface to mark this historic victory.
Global Reactions on the Landing of Chandrayaan 3
Google CEO Sundar Pichai congratulates ISRO and India for the soft landing of Chandrayaan 3 on the South Pole.
What an incredible moment! Congratulations to @isro for the successful landing of #Chandrayaan3 on the moon this morning. Today India became the first country to successfully achieve a soft landing on the southern polar region of the moon. https://t.co/2D6qSmneUp
— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) August 23, 2023
Bollywood Actor Amitabh Bachan shares his feelings on Twitter, as he mentions that he feels so proud that India is the first country to land on the lunar south pole.
T 4748 – For far too long when India was referred to , it was spoken of as 3rd World Country .. and I hated it ..
— Amitabh Bachchan (@SrBachchan) August 23, 2023
TODAY I AM PROUD TO SAY , INDIA IS 1ST WORLD .. in more ways than one ..
भारत माता की जय ! 🇮🇳
वन्दे मातरम् ! 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/sYb9PIE6oX
Department of Science, USA, congratulates ISRO for its success of Chandrayaan 3 through its Official page on Twitter.
Congratulations to our #ArtemisAccords partner @isro on the successful landing of #Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon. Your success will power the imagination and light the future of people around the world. 🌕🚀
— U.S. Department of State | Science Diplomacy USA (@SciDiplomacyUSA) August 23, 2023
ISRO team behind Chandrayaan 3
S. Somnath, ISRO chief
ISRO director S. Somanath is the brains behind India’s planned Moon mission. Gaganyaan and Sun-Mission Aditya-L1 were two other ISRO missions that were accelerated thanks to Somnath.
P. Veeramuthuvel, Project Director of Chandrayaan 3
P Veeramuthuvel is the project director for India’s most recent lunar touch-down mission. He assumed leadership of the mission in 2019. Before the Moon mission began, Veeramuthuvel was a deputy director in the ISRO headquarters’ Space Infrastructure Programme Office. His technical abilities are well-known.
Mohana Kumar, Mission Director
The mission director for Chandrayaan-3 is S Mohana Kumar, a distinguished scientist from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. As the mission’s director, Kumar oversaw the LVM3-M3 mission’s successful commercial launch of the One Web India 2 satellites.
Future Plans of ISRO
The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is currently stationed at the Sriharikota rocket port, methodically undergoing preparations for its upcoming launch. This extraordinary project is India’s first space-based solar observatory. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket carrying the Aditya-L1 satellite, outfitted with a coronagraphy camera, is scheduled to launch for ISRO. It is planned for this launch to happen in late August or early September.
Following the triumphant Chandrayaan-3 mission, Isro Chairman S. Somanath also expressed his everlasting confidence in the capability of India’s space agency to expand its reach to the Red Planet in the near future. Somanath expressed his enthusiasm, saying that the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s success not only strengthened the agency’s lunar aims but also sparked desires to travel to Mars and maybe make a historic landing there. He also said that Venus and other planets might be explored in the future.
