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India became the first country to land on the moon’s little-explored south pole on Wednesday, sparking wild celebrations across the country. Chandrayaan-3 had set off from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on July 14 – some four years after ISRO’s previous attempt to land a robotic spacecraft on the lunar surface ended in failure. The landing date was chosen while keeping in mind the availability of sunlight in the region.
The lander touched down on the lunar surface with a rover inside at 6:04 pm on Wednesday. Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments.
The sun will rise over the landing site on August 23 and set after two weeks. During this time, the solar-powered Vikram lander and rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements. This includes a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
Chandrayaan-3 took much longer to reach the Moon than the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s – which arrived in a matter of days. The probe had to orbit the Earth several times to gain speed before embarking on its month-long journey as India used significantly less powerful rockets.
The lander – Vikram (which means “valour” in Sanskrit) – detached from its propulsion module last week and has been sending images of the Moon’s surface since entering lunar orbit on August 5. The Chandrayaan-3 lander stands about 2 meters tall and has a mass of just over 1,700 kg.
It was designed to deploy a smaller, 26-kg lunar rover. Following its touchdown on the surface of the moon, the solar-powered Pragyaan will now explore the surface and transmit data to Earth over its two-week lifespan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Updated: 23 Aug 2023, 07:28 PM IST
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