{"id":242907,"date":"2023-08-28T12:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T11:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=242907"},"modified":"2023-08-25T04:56:16","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T03:56:16","slug":"india-lands-chandrayaan-3-craft-on-moon-asserting-its-place-in-space-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/08\/india-lands-chandrayaan-3-craft-on-moon-asserting-its-place-in-space-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"India Lands Chandrayaan-3 Craft on Moon, Asserting Its Place in Space Tech"},"content":{"rendered":"

India becomes the fourth country to achieve a moon landing, and the first to land spacecraft near moon\u2019s south pole.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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India becomes the fourth country to land a spacecraft on the moon.<\/p><\/div>\n

23 Aug 2023 – <\/em>India has landed a spacecraft on the moon, as the country \u2013 the fourth to achieve a moon landing \u2013 cements its growing prowess in space and technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 landed on Wednesday on the moon\u2019s south pole<\/a>, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water and precious elements.<\/p>\n

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The mission is seen as crucial to lunar exploration and confirming India\u2019s standing as a space power, and came just days after a similar Russian lander crashed.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIndia is on the moon,\u201d said S Somanath, chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as the spacecraft landed.<\/p>\n

A successful moon mission would dovetail with Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s image of an ascendant India asserting its place among the global elite and would help bolster his popularity in advance of a crucial general election next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a victory cry of a new India,\u201d said Modi, who was seen waving the Indian flag as he watched the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the BRICS summit.<\/p>\n

Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed, with the government now looking to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.<\/p>\n

The latest mission<\/a> came with a price tag of $74.6m \u2013 far lower than those of other countries, and a testament to India\u2019s frugal space engineering.<\/p>\n

This was India\u2019s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and came less than a week after Russia\u2019s Luna-25 mission failed. People across the country were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface.<\/p>\n

Chandrayaan means \u201cmoon vehicle\u201d in Hindi and Sanskrit. In 2019, ISRO\u2019s Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter but its lander crashed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, it\u2019s very difficult to land on the south part of the moon. Most vehicles have landed in the equator region of the moon, where the characteristics of the moon are much easier to deal with,\u201d Christopher Conselice, professor of extragalactic astronomy at the University of Manchester, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very historic day, and I really look forward to the science we\u2019re going to see come out of the [mission]. I think it will be quite interesting, and I hope it encourages other missions to do similar things around the moon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"INTERACTIVE<\/p>\n

The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Its landing on the moon was \u201cvery important\u201d for India, as it helped demonstrate its \u201ctechnological advancement\u201d, according to Carla Filotico, a consultant at SpaceTec Partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important for scientific exploration as it is landing on the [moon\u2019s] south pole and it will allow India to explore the water and ice on the moon,\u201d Filotico said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It will help in] accumulating data on science and geology of the moon and gathering information on exploration of the solar system\u2019s history and evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Impressive\u2019<\/h2>\n

Congratulatory messages poured in from around the world following the successful landing.<\/p>\n

The US Department of State\u2019s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs said Chandrayaan-3 success will \u201cpower\u201d the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour success will power the imagination and light the future of people around the world,\u201d the department posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated India for an \u201cimpressive\u201d achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big step forward in space exploration and, of course, a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the field of science and technology,\u201d the Kremlin statement read.<\/p>\n

Numerous countries and private companies have been racing to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

Japan plans to launch a lunar lander to the moon over the weekend as part of an X-ray telescope mission, and two US companies have also been vying to put landers on the moon by the end of the year, one of them at the south pole.<\/p>\n

In the coming years, NASA plans to land astronauts at the lunar south pole.<\/p>\n

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India\u2019s Chandrayaan-13 makes historic landing at Moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p><\/div>\n

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