Chandrayaan-3 marks a watershed in Indian space exploration missions

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was delighted and over the moon when he learned of the unique feat of the Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan 3 making a soft landing at the hitherto unknown south pole.

Prime Minister Modi took an exception and greeted the scientists who made it possible to make India proud and enabled the South Asian giant to join the elite club of space-exploring countries such as the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China from the BRICS platform, where he was meeting with the leaders of other emerging economies.

Following the landing, President Droupadi Murmu congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and those associated with the mission.

An elated Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation following the successful landing, The Prime Minister said, "We have reached where no one has reached in the past. This success is not India’s alone. This success belongs to all of humanity; it will help moon missions from other countries in the future."According to Indian media, precisely at 6.03 p.m., the lander touched the lunar surface, and there were euphoric celebrations at the Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking, and Command Network (ISTRAC), Bengaluru, as India joined an elite list of countries like the US, Russia, and China to achieve this feat. By achieving this feat, India has also become the first nation to touch down on the polar region of the Moon.

We have achieved a soft landing on the moon; India is on the moon, the ISRO Chairman said. The successful landing on Wednesday has erased the painful memories of the failure of Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander in 2019. During the descent, the Vikram lander gave up at an altitude of 2.1 km before touchdown and crashed on the lunar surface. It subsequently lost communication with the ground stations.

On the successful mission of Chandrayaan 3, President Ranil Wickremesinghe also joined the leaders who extended their warmest wishes to the Prime Minister and the people of India. 

In a letter addressed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ranil Wickremesinghe extended his heartiest congratulations to the Prime Minister, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), and the people of India on the remarkable achievement of Chandrayaan-3's successful soft landing on the lunar south pole for the first time in history. The President upheld that Sri Lanka has India as its closest neighbour, sharing a robust, timeless relationship with both countries being members of the South Asian family, and observed that it is with immense pride that the nation is celebrating this historic and momentous achievement.

President Wickremesinghe underscored the global significance of Prime Minister Modi's magnanimous gesture of dedicating this success to all of humanity, which he noted would inspire generations to pursue the advancement of scientific and technological progress. He bestowed his best wishes for success in India’s endeavours to attain its future vision of exploring other planets in the solar system.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was also among the first world leaders to congratulate India. In a message to the President and PM, the Russian leader described the success of the mission as proof of the progress that the Indian space programme has made over the decades.

"This is a big step forward in space exploration and certainly a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the area of science and technology," Mr. Putin said in his message. There was euphoria in Tamil Nadu since many scientists who contributed to the success story of the Chandrayaan-3 hail from Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu’s leading scientists—former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Chandrayaan-2 Mission Director Mayilsamy Annadurai, and Chandrayaan-3 Project Director Veeramuthuvel P.—have immensely contributed to ISRO missions. Besides their mastermind approach, the state’s soil itself was useful in carrying out the experiments that were needed for the moon's exploration.

While the news agency IANS reported that as many as 54 women scientists and engineers were involved in the "Chandrayaan 3" project, a BBC report quoted a lady mission director, Anuradha T.K., as saying that anywhere between 20 and 25% of ISRO’s 16,000 employees are women.

And at least eight women have been at the helm of projects as directors and deputy directors, including those sending probes to the moon and Mars. These women are fondly described as the "Rocket Women of India". Considering the way women have come up in ISRO since the 1980s, it is apparent that gender equality has been one of its defining values.

Since the year 2012, Namakkal, which is about 400 km from the state capital Chennai, has been supplying soil to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for testing for the Chandrayaan Mission capability, as the earth in that district is similar to that of the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, the latest reports indicate that the Pragayn rover has rolled out of the Chandrayan 3 in less than 24 hours of the moon landing on a two-week-long moon exploration mission. Anusuya Datta, a writer and journalist with a special interest in Earth observation and sustainability issues based in Canada who previously worked for Geospatial World, made her observations in an article written for Spacenews. Here are extracts from her article.

The flawless soft landing makes Chandrayaan-3 the first spacecraft to touch down on the moon’s south polar region. The feat comes on the heels of Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft experiencing a loss of control and subsequently crashing onto the lunar surface.
 
Time is of the essence here, as Chandrayaan-3 is powered by solar panels and is designed to last a single lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days. Within this time frame, it is slated to carry out a series of experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the lunar surface’s mineral composition, before plunging into darkness at the conclusion of the lunar day.

While both Luna-25 and the Vikram lander on Chandrayaan-3 had instruments designed to study the lunar regolith and immediate exosphere, water, and minerals, including Helium 3, the main difference between the two was that the Russian craft was planned to work for one Earth year. It had a radioisotope thermal generator for heat and electric power, while Vikram and Pragyan (Chandrayaan-3’s rover) will not survive the lunar night.

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission marks a watershed moment, as it becomes the first spacecraft to land on the moon’s south pole—a region containing water ice and valuable minerals. The implications of this pioneering feat are significant, and the data and insights drawn from these tests will surely capture global attention as they will aid in future lunar missions.

It’s noteworthy that Chandrayaan-1, a lunar orbiter mission launched in 2008 as India’s first endeavour to send a craft beyond Earth, was also the first to detect water on the lunar surface, a discovery that drastically influenced the plans of the U.S. and Chinese space programmes for human lunar exploration. The lunar South Pole is also set to be the landing site for the United States’ Artemis 3 mission. Scientists had long speculated that shaded craters in this region could contain substantial deposits of water ice, which could be harnessed for various purposes. Chandrayaan-1’s findings provided substantial support for these theories.

Nine years after Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2 launched in July 2019 but was not successful. The craft reached the moon’s orbit as scheduled, and the lander and the rover were scheduled to land in the south-polar region when the lander crashed as it deviated from its intended trajectory. ISRO said the crash was due to a software glitch.
 
Chandrayaan-3 is essentially the same as Chandrayaan-2, with the identified software issue rectified. 
 
Chandrayaan-3’s success holds potential significance for India’s aspirations of establishing a sustained human presence on the moon. Under the Artemis Accords, ISRO can lay claim to the landing area for mining rights. Further, a successful Chandrayaan-3 mission will surely catalyse innovative scientific research, facilitating groundbreaking experiments that contribute to lunar understanding, including its composition, geology, and resource potential.

It will also provide a boost to the planned ones, like the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), a collaboration between ISRO and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to explore the south pole region of the moon.
 
At the heart of India’s space journey lies a pivotal lesson in self-reliance. ISRO serves as a living testament to the remarkable potential of Indian scientists to conquer challenges.

Despite bureaucratic entanglements, political intricacies, and limited resources, ISRO has shattered stereotypes, emerging as a worthy rival to the elite space club—a feat so impactful that the New York Times offered a rare apology for its controversial caricature in 2014. Since then, ISRO’s prominence has only soared, and the narrative unfolds further with each chapter.

The soft landing of Chandrayaa-3 on the south pole of the moon's surface created history. It is indeed a dream come true for every Indian spread throughout the world. India has made giant strides economically and socially, and the latest feat is unparalled in technological advancement.