Today (August 23) Chandrayan spacecraft -3″ it slowly touched the south pole of the moon and became a big milestone for the country. India has become the fourth country to set foot on the moon, after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The historic landing took place at 8:33 am EST (12:33 GMT or 18:03 IST), according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). “Soft landing on the Moon! India on the Moon!” About ISRO Chairman Sridhara Somanath said after the landing:

“This achievement belongs to all humanity and will help other countries’ lunar missions in the future,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his speech after the landing. said. “I am confident that all countries of the world, including the countries of the Global South, have the capacity to succeed. We can all aspire to the moon and beyond.”

A solar-powered rover named Pragyan (meaning “wisdom” in Sanskrit) is expected to launch soon from Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram (“Valor”) landing craft. The robotic duo will spend a lunar day (about 14 Earth days) exploring their new home to gather scientific data on the moon’s structure before its batteries die after sunset.

“The whole country is excited about this mission,” Anil Bhardwaj, director of the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in India, which produces Chandrayaan-3’s various instruments, told Space.com before landing. “We all hope to be successful in generating new science through this mission.”

Chandrayaan-3 was India’s second attempt to land near the moon’s south pole, a largely unexplored region of great interest to scientists and exploration enthusiasts alike. The south polar region is believed to contain large amounts of water ice, which, if available, can be mined for rocket fuel and life support for future crewed missions. The country’s first attempt to land on the Moon in September 2019 failed, with the Chandrayaan-2 lander failing. got into to the moon due to a software glitch.

Nearly four years later, and after many design and software upgrades, on July 14 from the spaceport at Sriharikot on the east coast of India, started Own the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the LVM3 rocket. Earlier this month, the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around the moon, then performed various maneuvers to move into a near-circular orbit that lifted it to an altitude of about 93 miles (150 kilometers) above the lunar surface.

Last Thursday (August 17), the Vikram-Pragyan duo left the power module of the mission, which will study the Earth from its orbit around the moon. Entering an oval lunar orbit after separation, the lander and rover successfully slowed on Friday, August 18, and then slowed again to approach the lunar surface on Sunday, August 20.

While still orbiting the Moon on Monday, August 21 and Tuesday, August 22, the duo made contact with the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which has been orbiting the Moon since 2019 and will serve as an important communications link. With Earth for the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

As the sun rose at the target landing site visible from Earth on one side of the moon today, mission control at ISRO’s headquarters in Bengaluru directed the lander to begin its descent to the lunar surface and activated the fully automatic landing system.

The historic landing was broadcast live by ISRO and broadcast by Indian public broadcaster Doordarshan.

At approximately 08:34 EST (12:34 GMT and 18:04 IST), the Vikram lander landed at the target landing site at approximately 70 degrees south latitude. The region is not far from where Russia hopes the first Luna 25 mission in 47 years will land on Monday (August 21st). The attempt failed, however, when the probe crashed into the Moon over the weekend after a final sideways orbital maneuver.

Bhardwaj said India’s success today can be attributed to “major changes” in landing strategy after the Chandrayaan-2 crash in 2019. He added that the built-in algorithms that calculate the spacecraft’s velocity in real time during descent have been reworked to provide “more freedom to deviate from protocol” but still perform the descent.

Other changes that have contributed to the mission’s success include a larger target landing area, stronger Vikram legs to withstand higher landing speeds, and dynamic thrusters that adjust the spacecraft’s speed for a smoother landing.

Bhardwaj said the lunar images the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has sent home since 2019 paint a clearer picture of the landing site than scientists previously knew. “In this region [посадки] “There are no big obstacles,” he said.

Now, after Vikram settles on the moon, Pragyan is expected to come to the lunar surface and start analyzing the lunar soil and rocks.

Like the hapless traveler on Chandrayaan-2, Pragyan’s wheels are engraved with the Ashoka Chakra and ISRO logo, the religious symbol of the 24-spoke wheel depicted on the Indian flag. Therefore, as Pragyan approaches the moon, ISRO hopes that both symbols will be stamped on the surface and remain intact for years to come.

The Vikram lander is equipped with a built-in seismometer to detect lunar earthquakes near the landing site and examine the lunar soil to record its temperature.