An Indian spacecraft has successfully landed on the moon on Wednesday in a mission seen as crucial to lunar exploration, making it the first country to do so.
This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and comes less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed.
India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who was seen waving the Indian flag as he watched the landing from South Africa, where he is attending the BRICS summit, said “This is a victory cry of a new India,”.
Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed and as the government now looks to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.
The Chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), S. Somanath, announced that “India is on the moon” as the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar south pole.
The Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks, running a series of experiments including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface.
Rough terrain makes a south pole landing difficult, and a first landing is historic.
Reports say the region’s ice could supply fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future missions.
A partner and managing director at consultancy SpaceTec Partners, Carla Filotico, said “Landing on the south pole (of the moon) would actually allow India to explore if there is water ice on the moon. And this is very important for cumulative data and science on the geology of the moon.”
Chioma Kalu
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