2023-08-23 20:30:00
SPACE – Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first spacecraft to land on the South Pole of the Moon and the fourth to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. Will the dream of creating permanent colonies on our natural satellite thanks to the presence of water ice come to fruition?
Success for India in the space race to land on the South Pole of the Moon. “He landed on the moon”confirmed a member of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), to the applause and under the gaze of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
Exploit
It is the first time in history that a spacecraft has achieved such a feat and it is a resounding success for India, which has spent nearly 30 years researching and preparing for this moment. “This success is not just for India, it is for all of humanity,” said Mr Modi.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft (meaning “moon ship” in Sanskrit) flew to the Moon on July 14, and its landing was completed on Wednesday August 23, at 2:34 p.m. GMT. The total cost of the mission is estimated at 70 million euros and its main objective is to prove that such a moon landing was possible.
It will also make it possible to analyze the chemical and geological composition of the terrain, which has never been explored before.
A complex moon landing without technical failure
India, through its Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) and the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, faced a daunting challenge: to land a probe on the moon without any technical failure, which was impossible until now. Only the United States, China and the Soviet Union had successfully landed a probe on the moon, but no one had ever landed at the South Pole.
Landing at the lunar South Pole is particularly complex due to the steep terrain. However, it has been one of the main objectives of space agencies from several countries for years due to the ice reserves found in this part of the satellite. These reserves would be essential for the establishment of a manned base that would serve as a launch pad for future space missions, including a trip to Mars.
15 minutes of terror
The maneuvers started half an hour before the landing and the last 15 minutes are crucial for the success of the mission. This window of time is known as “15 minutes of terror” and consists of four phases:
The hard braking phase, during which the spacecraft will go from 6,000 kilometers per hour to almost zero speed, the altitude maintenance phase, which takes place about seven kilometers above the lunar surface, the horizontal displacement phase to position oneself with the landing point in sight, and the final descent, the last step where the module lands.
In 2019, Chandrayaan-2, which had the same objective as the current probe, lost control between the second and third phase. The lander could not slow down to the required speed or position itself at the landing site, and therefore crashed on the lunar surface. On Wednesday, the landing maneuver was 100% automatic and took place without any technical incident.
In recent years, several space missions have attempted to carry out this mission. The last one took place a few days ago: the Russian Luna-25 mission failed, its probe having crashed on the lunar surface. The Japanese Hakuto-R mission suffered the same fate last April, after losing communications with its probe.
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