India blasts Chandrayaan-3 lander toward moon's south pole
Send a link to a friend
[July 15, 2023]
By Nivedita Bhattacharjee
BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's space agency launched a rocket on Friday
that sent a spacecraft into orbit and toward a planned landing next
month on the lunar south pole, an unprecedented feat that would advance
India's position as a major space power.
The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) LVM3 launch rocket
blasted off from the country's main spaceport in the southern state of
Andhra Pradesh on Friday afternoon, leaving behind a plume of smoke and
fire.
About 16 minutes later, ISRO's mission control announced that the rocket
had succeeded in putting the Chandrayaan-3 lander into an Earth orbit
that will send it looping toward a moon landing next month.
If the mission succeeds, India would join a group of three other
countries that have managed a controlled lunar landing, including the
United States, the former Soviet Union and China.
The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft would also be the first to land at the
lunar south pole, an area of special interest for space agencies and
private space companies because of the presence of water ice that could
support a future space station.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/15/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
The rocket blasted off from India's main spaceport at 2:35 p.m. local
time (0905 GMT). Over 1.4 million people watched the launch on ISRO's
YouTube channel, many offering congratulations and the patriotic slogan
"Jai Hind" (Victory to India).
In 2019, ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully deployed an orbiter
but its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash near where the
Chandrayan-3 will attempt a touchdown.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/071523PIX/news_j13.jpg)
A young woman takes a selfie along with
a cutout of the Chandrayaan 3 Launch Vehicle Mark-III outside a
temple in Mumbai, India, July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/15/images/ads/current/bennet_lda_010722.png)
Chandrayaan, which means "moon vehicle" in Sanskrit, includes a
2-metre-(6.6-foot)-tall lander designed to deploy a rover near the
moon's south pole, where it is expected to remain functional for two
weeks running a series of experiments.
The lunar landing is expected on Aug. 23, ISRO has said.
The launch is India's first major mission since Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's government announced policies to spur investment in
space launches and related satellite-based businesses.
Modi had earlier said on Twitter that the moon mission "will carry
the hopes and dreams of our nation".
"As Mother India enters into the next 25 years, she pledges to play
a leading global role in the emerging world scenario," Deputy
Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh said in
an event at the spaceport to celebrate the launch.
Since 2020, when India opened to private launches, the number of
space startups has more than doubled. Late last year, Skyroot
Aerospace, whose investors include Singapore's sovereign wealth fund
GIC, launched India's first privately built rocket.
Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Kevin
Krolicki, Jamie Freed and Mark Heinrich)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |