This Space Research Organization India (ISRO) launched this Friday An ambitious mission to explore the moon’s south poleChandrayaan-3 is a probe expected to land on the satellite between August 23-24, following the failed moon landing four years ago.
Launch with Chandrayaan-3 rocket Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3) took place as scheduled Friday at 2:35 PM (09:05 GMT) from central Sriharikota in southeastern Andhra Pradesh state, ISRO showed live during the countdown.
The rocket will orbit the Earth before starting its flight path. 384,400 kilometers to the moonISRO chief Sreedhara Panicker Somanath said yesterday that it will enter orbit before performing the landing maneuver around August 23.
The mission has a mass of 3,900 kilograms and will be capable of operating for one lunar day, equivalent to fourteen days on Earth.
an unexplored area
The aim of the Indian organization is, Moon’s unexplored south poleplacing a probe on the surface to conduct scientific experiments and collect data on the satellite’s mineral composition and the presence of water.
If India achieves its goal and the probe manages to land safely on the rough surface of the Moon’s south pole, it will be India. fourth country to succeed in such a missionan achievement so far only achieved by Russia, the United States and China.
However, all previous missions have focused on the southern regions of the satellite, and Chandrayaan-3 will make its first landing at the south pole.
Third mission to the moon of the country
about this India’s third lunar exploration mission, after the Asian country launched its first space mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-1, in 2008. It consists of an orbiter that orbited the satellite more than 3,400 times without landing between November 2008 and August 2009.
The probe was discovered Direct evidence of water on the moonand analysis of measurements taken by Chandrayaan-1 with a NASA measuring instrument in 2018 confirmed multiple ice reserves in the permanently shadowed areas of the satellite, according to the US agency.
ISRO attempted to land a probe at the Moon’s south pole with its second mission, Chandrayaan-2, in 2019, but the mission failed when it crashed due to technical issues with slowing down during descent.
To improve its predecessor, the new probe strengthened the feet of the moon landing moduleand improved the software to be more tolerant of potential technical errors that could lead to the failed moon landing in 2019.
The achievements of the Indian space program are further highlighted, given that the Indian Space Department (DoS) responsible for ISRO has a budget of around $1.5 billion this year, while NASA has a budget of $26 billion. The Indian organization gains a positive reputation.