India is set to become the first country to land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole on Wednesday, days after a Russian probe landed in the same area. The latest attempt to land on the moon is a historic moment for the world’s most populous country, which is fast approaching the milestones set by the global space powers.

Chandrayaan-3, meaning “moonship” in Sanskrit, will land near the moon’s little-explored south pole shortly after 18:00 (12:30 GMT) Indian time.

“India Reaches the Moon” was the front page headline of The Times of India on Wednesday; It was prominent in local news that the moon landing was expected. According to The Hindustan Times, “Today is D-Day for the Moon mission.”

India’s previous attempt failed in 2019, and the latest attempt comes just days after Russia’s first lunar mission to the same region in nearly 50 years crashed into the lunar surface. But former Indian space chief K Sivan said the latest photos sent home by the lander show that the last leg of the journey will be successful.

“It’s encouraging that we can land without any problems,” he told AFP on Monday.

“Trust”

Sivan added that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been making corrections since the failure four years ago, when scientists lost contact with the previous lunar module minutes before the landing was scheduled.

“Chandrayan-3 will operate with greater force,” he said. “We are confident and expect everything to go well.”

The mission was launched about six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering audiences, but getting to the moon took much longer than the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days. India uses rockets much less powerful than those used by the US at the time; which means that the probe would have to circle the Earth several times to gain momentum before it could go into a month-long lunar orbit.

The Vikram spacecraft’s lander, which means “valor” in Sanskrit, disengaged from its engine last week and has been sending back images of the lunar surface since it entered lunar orbit on August 5. The day before the landing, ISRO said on social media that the landing was on schedule and that the mission control complex was “full of energy and excitement.”

“The deep dive continues,” the agency said on the X, formerly known as Twitter.

India has a relatively low-budget aerospace program, but has grown significantly in size and acceleration since it first sent a probe into lunar orbit in 2008. The most recent mission cost $74.6 million; this is much lower than other countries and a testament to India’s frugal aerospace engineering.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing space technology and having a large number of highly skilled engineers earning a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ salaries. In 2014, India became the first Asian country to launch a satellite into Mars orbit, and plans to launch a three-day manned mission to Earth orbit next year.

“Very very important”

Former ISRO chief Sivan said India’s efforts to explore the moon’s relatively unmapped south pole would make a “very, very important” contribution to scientific knowledge. Previously, only Russia, the USA and China had managed to make a controlled landing on the lunar surface.

If successful, it will surpass Chandrayaan-3 by a few days and will be the first mission of any country to make a controlled landing around the moon’s south pole.

However, the Luna 25 probe made an emergency landing after an unspecified incident as it was preparing to descend on Saturday. The criminal sanctions imposed since the beginning of the war in Ukraine have also affected Russia’s space industry, which has suffered from corruption, a lack of innovation and partnership. Source