India has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first country to land on the lunar South Pole. Prime Minister Modi conveyed his congratulations to the citizens and space scientists involved in this accomplishment.
On August 23, India's Chandrayaan-3 has the potential to achieve a pioneering feat by becoming the first spacecraft to successfully land on the Moon's southern polar region.
India has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first country to land on the lunar South Pole. Prime Minister Modi conveyed his congratulations to the citizens and space scientists involved in this accomplishment.
ISRO's decision to pursue a soft landing on the lunar South Pole with Chandrayaan-3 is driven by several compelling reasons:
The main goal of Chandrayaan-3 is to deploy a lander and rover in the elevated regions of the Moon situated close to its southern pole. This mission aims to showcase the complete process of landing and rover movement. Beyond displaying the ability to safely and gently land and move across the lunar terrain, Chandrayaan-3 seeks to achieve other objectives as well. These encompass carrying out on-site scientific investigations, as well as creating and validating novel technologies essential for future interplanetary endeavors.
Due to its resemblance to Earth's diversity, investigating the lunar South Pole presents an opportunity for scientists to gain insights into the conditions that existed on Earth billions of years ago. Additionally, this exploration holds the potential to provide indications about the feasibility of future lunar colonization.
The presence of water-ice reserves, particularly beneath the Polar Regions, adds to the intrigue surrounding these areas and motivates space agencies to undertake polar exploration efforts. A noteworthy precursor to this was Chandrayaan-1's Moon Impact Probe, which suggested the existence of water molecules beneath the Moon's outer layer. Consequently, space research organizations are motivated to delve deeper into this discovery by dispatching spacecraft to the lunar poles, thereby conducting comprehensive experiments on the lunar surface.
Characterized by their darkness, distinct topography, and geological features, the lunar poles provide an environment conducive to the retention of water molecules in the icy state. Numerous remote observations have been conducted, the majority of which have provided indications pointing towards the likelihood of subsurface water-ice reservoirs on the Moon.
The achievement of a successful landing for Chandrayaan-3 at the lunar South Pole holds profound historical significance for India. Beyond this, it opens the door for the spacecraft to conduct experiments on the lunar ice and investigate its potential utilization in extracting water, oxygen, and fuel. Such endeavors could prove crucial for upcoming manned lunar missions.
Chandrayaan-3's decision to target the moon's southern pole as its landing site stems from the substantial ice deposits present in this region. These deposits hold the promise of facilitating the extraction of water, oxygen, and fuel, crucial resources for the success of future human missions to the Moon.
As far back as the 1960s, before the initial Apollo landing, scientists had raised the possibility of water's existence on the Moon. Initial analyses of samples brought back by the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s appeared to suggest a lack of water content.
However, in 2008, researchers from Brown University reevaluated these lunar samples using advanced technology and identified traces of hydrogen enclosed within minuscule beads of volcanic glass. Subsequently, in 2009, an instrument deployed by NASA on the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft identified the presence of water on the Moon's surface.
During the same period, another NASA probe that impacted the lunar South Pole discovered water ice situated beneath the lunar surface. An earlier NASA mission, the 1998 Lunar Prospector, had previously uncovered indications that the most concentrated reserves of water ice existed within the shadowed craters of the Moon's South Pole.
The critical phase of the mission unfolded during the landing's last leg. Around 20 minutes before landing, ISRO initiated the Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). This allowed the Vikram Lunar Module (LM) to take control, utilizing its onboard computers and logic to identify a suitable site for a soft landing on the lunar surface.