India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has launched a rocket aimed at achieving an unprecedented feat: landing a spacecraft at the lunar south pole. The successful accomplishment of this mission, named Chandrayaan-3, would solidify India’s position as a major space power. The launch took place at Sriharikota, the country’s main spaceport in Andhra Pradesh.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission aims to deploy a lander and rover near the moon’s south pole by August 23. This region has never been landed upon by any other space agency, with only the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China having successfully touched down a lander on the lunar surface.
During the launch, applause and cheers filled mission control at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre as ISRO engineers and scientists closely monitored the spacecraft’s progress. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently in France, expressed his support for the mission, stating that it carried the hopes and dreams of the nation.
Chandrayaan-3 includes a two-meter-tall lander named Vikram, meaning “valour” in Sanskrit, which will deploy the rover named Pragyan, meaning “wisdom.” The rover is expected to operate for approximately two weeks, conducting experiments and transmitting images back to Earth for analysis. This mission follows the 2020 Chandrayaan-2 mission, which successfully deployed an orbiter but experienced a crash landing near the same location where Chandrayaan-3 aims to touch down.