Our lead story this week covers the unique achievement of India as a space power. Entering the ranks of the only 3 countries (erstwhile) that had landed on the moon. India also became the first and only country to have landed on the south pole of the moon. Why this is groundbreaking and has evoked such wide interest from across the world because, if we put things in perspective; Antarctica glaciers and Earth’s own south pole, although formed 34 million years ago, were discovered only in the 1820s. Moreover, it is likely that in the near future, the south pole of the moon, with its promise of frozen water, can become a possible source of oxygen to aid life and perhaps re-fuel forthcoming missions as a transit point into deeper space. And all this has been achieved for just under $75 million, less than the budget of Hollywood’s “Interstellar”. We cannot ignore the efficiency of the entire project. Though a laudable attempt, Chandrayaan-2’s lander had been lost in 2019 itself. However, PRADAN, the orbiter, is currently in an orbit around the moon and was used to assist Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing. Communication between both had been established and recently in a post, ISRO said that the orbiter sent a welcome message, “Welcome, buddy!” to lander VIKRAM. The health of both the VIKRAM-PRAGYAN (lander-rover) pair has been established, and now they will move on to collecting data from the surface.  

The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s lander is actually named after Vikram Sarabhai, who is widely regarded as the father of the Indian space program. Dr. K. Sivan, who headed the project in 2019, expressed confidence that he is sure that this time mission would be a “grand success”, and so it was. More than a billion Indians sat glued to the TV screen and were overjoyed to see the hard work of the scientists, engineers, and enabling staff pay off for a collective win. Read More!