Five Interesting Facts About India's Historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission

India's third lunar mission called Chandrayaan-3 made India the first country to successfully land near the Moon's south pole - a region that has piqued the interests of scientists due to its unique characteristics.

Scientists think that the region near Moon's south pole is home to ancient pockets of ice water that could be useful in future crewed missions and even settlements on Earth's only natural satellite.

The Chandrayaan-3 landed on the lunar surface on August 23 at 6.04 PM IST. The mission cemented India as an elite space nation and could unlock secrets about the Moon.

ISRO

Five interesting things about Chandrayaan-3

1. Imprinting India flag and ISRO emblem

Chandrayaan-3's rover Pragyan will leave the impression of India's national flag and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) logo on the lunar soil (regolith). This will make India the only country to have its mark on the Moon's south pole where no other country has ventured till now.

2. The low-cost of Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 mission's entire cost is roughly ?650 ($75 million) crore. For perspective, the budget of the film Adipurush was ?700 crore while the 2009 Hollywood film Avatar's budget was around ?1970 crore.

ISRO

Also read: What Are Chandrayaan-3's Payloads And Their Moon Missions?

3. First country to probe South Pole

Russia's recent Luna-25 mission could have become the first mission to probe the Moon's south pole if it had succeeded. Now, if Chandrayaan-3 achieves a successful soft landing on the lunar surface, India would become the first country to probe the Moon's south pole. It will also make India the fourth country to land on the Moon after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China.

ISRO

4. Building on data from Chandrayaan-1

India's first lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1 found frozen water deposits on the Moon's darkest and coldest regions in 2009. The follow up mission, Chandrayaan-2 was expected to probe the same but failed to achieve a soft-landing. Chandrayaan-3 is built to rectify the mistakes of its predecessor and will add more knowledge about the Moon's south pole and the scope of water presence.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3's Journey To The Moon: A Timeline Of India's Third Lunar Mission

Unsplash

5. Chandrayaan-3's rover and lander

The Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan. The lander is named after Vikram Sarabhai who is considered the father of India's space programme and the founder of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

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