Scientists with India's space program erupted with joy on Friday as a massive rocket lifted off with a bang and tore through the clouds, carrying an unmanned spacecraft on a mission to land on the dark side of the moon. A LVM3-M4 heavy-lift rocket carried the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, with its lunar lander and small rover, away from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, southern India, at 2:35 p.m. local time on Friday without a hitch.
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In response, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “Chandrayaan-3 scripts a new chapter in India’s space odyssey. It soars high, elevating the dreams and ambitions of a every Indian. This momentous achievement is a testament to our scientists’ relentless dedication. I salute their spirit and ingenuity!”
lunar orbit, the propulsion module will be jettisoned. The Vikram lander will begin an autonomous descent, expected on Aug. 23 or 24, to a targeted landing site near the lunar South Pole. The landing site is located at 69.37 degrees south latitude and 32.35 degrees east longitude.
The mission is targeting a landing ellipse that measures 4 by 2.4 km, with landing set for August 23, 2023. The landing site is on the lunar nearside, near Mutus Crater in the lunar south polar region. This site should avoid any debris from the Chandrayaan 2 crash, which happened 100 km away, in between the Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters. Like the previous site, the new site is expected to contain ancient lunar crust and ejecta from the period of heavy bombardment during the early history of the solar system, 3.8 to 4.1 billion years ago. The timing for the landing attempt coincides with local lunar sunrise to give spacecraft imagers maximum terrain contrast and maximum survival time for the solar-powered lander and rover to explore their surroundings.
Annadurai says, was thought up in the early 2000s as an exciting project to attract talent at a time of the IT boom in India, as most technology graduates wanted to join the software industry.
"The success of Chandrayaan-1 helped on that count. The space programme became a matter of pride for India and it's now considered very prestigious to work for Isro."
But the larger goal of India's space programme, Mr Annadurai says, "encompasses science and technology and the future of humanity".
India is not the only country with an eye on the Moon - there's a growing global interest in it. And scientists say there is still much to understand about the Moon that's often described as a gateway to deep space.
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