Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said that on Friday, the lander module would begin its descent to a lower orbit. Called Vikram – after Isro founder Vikram Sarabhai – the lander carries within its belly a rover named Pragyaan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.
Chandrayaan-3, the third in India’s programme of lunar exploration, is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.
We planned the mission based on the readiness of the spacecraft and the available technical window to reach the far side of the Moon. Luna-25 is also a mission planned long time ago. They also must have some technical considerations, which we don’t know precisely,” he said
Chandrayaan-3, the third in India’s programme of lunar exploration, is expected to build on the success of its earlier Moon missions.
It comes 15 years after the country’s first Moon mission in 2008, which discovered the presence of water molecules on the parched lunar surface and established that the Moon has an atmosphere during daytime.
Chandrayaan-2 – which also comprised an orbiter, a lander and a rover – was launched in July 2019 but it was only partially successful. Its orbiter continues to circle and study the Moon even today, but the lander-rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during touchdown.
On Thursday, the lander detached from the propulsion module, which carried it close to the Moon, beginning the last phase of its mission.
Chandrayaan-3, however, may not be the first to land near the south pole if it’s beaten by a new Russian mission.
Luna-25, launched last week, is expected to land a day or two earlier.
