Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), on Friday, launched a rocket with the aim to land at the lunar south pole. The endeavor if successful, would mark an extraordinary achievement and will strengthen India’s status as a significant player in space exploration.
The mission is known as Chandrayaan-3 and is designed to deploy a lander and rover near the moon’s south pole by around August 23. Television footage recorded the LVM3 launch lifting off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, leaving a trail of smoke and fire in its wake.
There are only three other space agencies which include the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union have previously successfully landed their spacecraft on the moon’s surface. However, none of them targeted the south pole of the moon.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission has derived its name from Sanskrit and translates to “moon vehicle”. It consists of a 2-meter-tall lander tasked with deploying a rover near the moon’s south pole. The traveler will perform a series of experiments and will remain operational for almost 2 weeks.
It is worth mentioning that ISRO’s previous venture, Chandrayaan-2 achieved the successful deployment of the orbiter in 2020. However, the lander and rover suffered a crash near the location where Chandrayaan-3 is expected to touchdown.
