A perfect launch for Chandrayaan-3

Now, fingers crossed for a perfect landing on the moon in late-August.

India is making another leap to the moon with the launch of ISRO’s Chandrayan-3 mission from Sriharikota on Friday. Chandrayan-2 had failed to find success after reaching close to the moon in 2019. But there is expectation that the new mission, in the orbit of hope now, will achieve its aims. Chandrayan-3, like its predecessor, contains an orbiter, a lander and a rover. While the Chandrayan-2 orbiter entered lunar orbit and is still functioning, the lander crashed on the surface instead of making a slow descent and a soft landing. ISRO has said the technical problems have been identified and rectified now. It has also strengthened the landing system to minimise chances of failure and added more features to the mission. The lander-rover is expected to land on the lunar surface in the last week of August.

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A successful mission will take India to another level in its space endeavours. Only three countries — the US, the former Soviet Union, and China — have managed to land a spacecraft on the moon till now. While it will be an achievement in itself and will raise the country’s scientific and technological profile, it is also important as a precursor to and enabler of future endeavours. The lander and the rover will explore the lunar surface and conduct experiments which will expand our knowledge of the moon. As different from the missions conducted by other countries, the lander-rover will touch down on the south pole of the moon and provide data from its so-far uncharted regions. Information about the atmosphere and the structure and composition of the terrain, including the presence of water and minerals, will be of great value. A number of payloads which are part of the mission are equipped to do these diverse experiments for various scientific and technical goals.

Landing on the moon has an importance that goes beyond the moon itself. Mankind has plans to go beyond it to explore the planets and inter-planetary space. The moon will potentially provide a base and an intermediate station for such explorations. The moon will also gain commercial, geopolitical and strategic importance, too, in the coming years and the competition to have a place on it will intensify. A successful Chandrayaan mission will place the country in a position to meet future needs and make use of opportunities. ISRO has other missions also before it, including Gaganyaan, India’s first manned mission to space, a mission to study the sun, and another one to Venus. A successful Chandrayaan-3 mission will help ISRO embark more confidently on more ambitious future plans in space exploration.