India: The Latest Pioneer in Space Exploration
At 2:35 pm (5:05 pm PST) New Delhi time on July 14, 2023, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the LVM-3 rocket bound for the Moon from the country’s main spaceport, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Dubbed the Chandrayaan-3, the ISRO’s mission is to land on the Moon’s lunar south pole and gather data on this region. Scientists believe that this area, which has yet to be explored, has an abundance of water and ice deposits due to the rugged terrain. These resources could potentially be converted into rocket fuel or even drinking water for future missions that may include sending astronauts to the moon to conduct more scientific research.
On August 23, about a month and a half after the rocket launch, Vikram––the lander module––touched down on its target landing area located around 70 degrees south latitude on the Moon. The landing, which was streamed on YouTube to more than 70 million viewers worldwide, prompted congratulations from government officials and celebrities across the globe. Additionally, this prompted the religious nation’s citizens to celebrate by praying at the temples. Sreedhara Somanath, the Chairman of the ISRO, proudly announced, "We have achieved soft landing on the Moon! India is on the Moon!" A “soft landing” is the term used when the lander is intact and touches down with little to no damage at all.
Following the successful landing, Pragyan, the 6-wheeled solar-powered moon rover, disembarked from the Vikram which will be actively gathering data and analyzing the lunar surface for the next lunar day. A lunar day is a period of 29.53 Earth days with approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight and 14 Earth days of the lunar night. Those two weeks of sunlight will allow the rover to charge its batteries and fulfill its mission.
India is now the first country to successfully land on the Moon’s lunar south pole and is among the prestigious group of countries like the United States of America, Russia, and China, to have landed a spacecraft on the Moon. Compared to these nations, however, India is relatively new and inexperienced in the field of space exploration as it only launched its first rocket into space in 1963. With the Chandrayaan-3, the ISRO and India have proven themselves to be capable of developing, designing, and operating space equipment that accomplishes the most notoriously difficult endeavors in space exploration, all on a relatively low budget.
The news of India’s successful landing comes just days after the Russian Luna 25 spacecraft crashed onto the Moon’s surface on August 21. This mission marked Russia’s first lunar mission in almost five decades. However, the launch faced significant delays due to technical challenges caused by the sanctions against Russia. These challenges came as Russia pursued to take a swift trip to the moon to be the first nation to land on the Moon’s lunar south pole.
More research on this region of the Moon is also underway, as NASA plans to land the crewed Artemis 3 mission in the same area towards the end of 2025 or even 2026, depending on the availability of spacesuits and SpaceX’s latest Starship vehicle. Russia, China, and more than 10 other countries have also signed support for the plan to construct the International Lunar Research Station. This crewed scientific research base is to be built on the surface of the moon to conduct more research in space.
Could this news of groundbreaking accomplishment in aeronautics signify India as a new highly advanced spacefaring nation and a major shift in the world’s global powers? If so, how could this affect the current global order and international relationships and projects?
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/india-counts-down-crucial-moon-landing-2023-08-23/
https://www.space.com/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-success https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/14/chandrayaan-3-india-launches-rocket-to-land-spacecraft-on-moon
https://www.space.com/india-chandrayaan-3-moon-landing-success
https://www.space.com/chandrayaan-3-pragyan-rover-rolls-out-moon-video
https://abcnews.go.com/International/india-fourth-country-land-spacecraft-moon/story?id=102477798
