India’s first attempt at putting a robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon three years ago ended in a crash and a crater. Now it is ready to try again.
The mission, called Chandrayaan-3, comes amid a renewed interest in exploring the moon, but in the past decade, only China has succeeded in landing a spacecraft there in one piece. That could change soon. Chandrayaan-3 is the first of as many as six missions that could successfully land on the moon in the months ahead.
The LVM-3 rocket carrying the mission lifted off on schedule on Friday, July 14, at 5:05 a.m. Eastern time (it was 2:35 p.m. local time). The Indian Space Research Organization — India’s equivalent of NASA — is broadcasting coverage of the flight on its YouTube channel, which is continuing to progress toward the spacecraft separating from the rocket and beginning the maneuvers it will need to complete to exit Earth’s orbit. You can watch it in the video player embedded above.
What is Chandrayaan-3?
Chandrayaan means “moon craft” in Hindi. After the rocket carrying Chandrayaan-3 lifts off, a propulsion module will push the spacecraft out of Earth’s orbit and then allow the mission to enter orbit around the moon.
Attached to the module are a lander and a rover that will attempt to set down on the lunar surface in the moon’s south polar region.
The landing is scheduled for Aug. 23 or Aug. 24, when the sun will rise at the landing site, and is to conclude two weeks later when the sun sets. While on the surface, the solar-powered lander and rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements.
What happened to Chandrayaan-2?
Chandrayaan-3 is essentially a do-over of part of a moon mission in 2019. After launching, the mission successfully orbited the moon. That mission’s lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyan, made a landing attempt on Sept. 6, 2019. But at about 1.3 miles above the surface, the lander’s trajectory diverged from the planned path and India’s mission controllers back on Earth lost contact.
Months later, an amateur internet sleuth in India used imagery from a NASA orbiter to find the crash location of the lander and rover, which the American space agency confirmed to be accurate.
While Vikram and Pragyan were lost, the third part of Chandrayaan-2, an orbiter, was successful. The spacecraft continues to travel around the moon, where its instruments are being used for scientific study, and it will serve as the communications relay for the new Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on Chandrayaan-3. For this reason, Chandrayaan-3 does not include another orbiter.
Why is India exploring the moon?
India’s space program is a source of national pride, as is the country’s growing cadre of commercial space start-ups. When the country’s Mangalyaan spacecraft entered orbit around Mars in 2014, children across India were asked to arrive at school by 6:45 a.m., well before the usual starting time, to watch the event on state television.
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, was at the mission control center in Bengaluru and hailed the Mars mission “as a shining symbol of what we are capable of as a nation.”
For the Chandrayaan-2 landing attempt, Mr. Modi was again at the space center, but his address afterward was more subdued. “We came very close, but we will need to cover more ground in the times to come,” he said to the scientists, engineers and staff.
Later in his address, Mr. Modi added: “As important as the final result is the journey and the effort. I can proudly say that the effort was worth it and so was the journey.”
In the hours before the launch, Mr. Modi used his Twitter account for an update on Chandrayaan-3.
“I urge you all to know more about this Mission and the strides we have made in space, science and innovation,” he said. “It will make you all very proud.”
What other plans does India have for its space program?
India is developing a spacecraft, Gaganyaan, for taking astronauts to orbit, which is now expected no earlier than 2025.
The country is increasing its collaboration with the United States for space missions. Earlier this year, the White House announced that NASA would provide training for Indian astronauts “with a goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024.”
