Yesterday, India joined the small list of nations to land a probe on the Moon.
India’s Space Program launched Chandrayaan-3, a lunar lander carrying rover. Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon’s South Pole which is covered in shadow. India joins the exclusive club of countries that have landed on the Moon. Only 3 other countries have successfully managed the feat (US, Russia, and China).
We see the Moon in our night’s sky, and it looks like a close neighbor. It’s actually pretty far way, about 239, 000 miles separate us. At it’s furthest distance from Earth, its apogee, you can fit all of our Solar System’s planets including Pluto and Eris, between Earth and the Moon.
That’s how far away it is.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Updates:The communication link is established between the Ch-3 Lander and MOX-ISTRAC, Bengaluru.
Here are the images from the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent. #Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/ctjpxZmbom
— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023
A Historic First
The lunar South Pole has never been fully explored. Chandrayaan-3 is the first ever lunar lander to touch down (up?) on the Lunar South Pole. The surface is littered with boulders and asteroid pits. It’s shrouded in darkness most of the time and temperatures are frigid.
Scientists postulate frozen water lurks on the South Pole. If so, this is a boon for human-lunar missions. Access to water improves the possibility for long-term exploration on the Moon. Water isn’t just valuable for human settlement there. An idea that water on the Moon comes from crashed space rocks early in our satellite’s history is floating around the scientific community. If this theory proves out, many insights on the formation of our planet can be teased out of this research.
I wish India ISRO good luck on their find. Any space news gets our rapt attention at theSync. We all hope they find water on the dark of the Moon.
Historic day for India’s space sector. Congratulations to @isro for the remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. https://t.co/F1UrgJklfp
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 23, 2023
Ad Astra
-MJ