On August 23rd, 2023, India made history as the Chandrayaan-3 took the first step to uncovering the hidden south pole of the Moon, after a failed attempt by Russia’s moon rover, Luna-25. This monumental achievement makes India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 and its solar-powered rover Pragyan, which means “wisdom” in Sanskrit, are expected to spend 14 Earth days (one lunar day) collecting scientific data and samples from the pole. The Moon’s south pole region is still unknown and is a root of curiosity for several scientists.

In 2008, India launched Chandrayaan-1, the country’s first attempt at putting a probe on the Moon. Though its orbiter later failed due to the sun’s radiation and overheating, the probe confirmed the existence of water on the Moon. Chandrayaan-2 was launched in 2019, but the second attempt ultimately failed due to a programming glitch. These two missions provided the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) with valuable information to create a successful lunar rover. New and improved algorithms that allowed the rover to stray away from the written code provided alternative methods for landing. On that note, a bigger landing region was crucial to the success of Chandrayaan-3. Several factors are in play when landing on the Moon, but since the lunar pole is darker than the well-lit parts near the equator, it is a more challenging region to land on. Craters and boulders make it hard for landers to find a grip on the rocky surface of the Moon. In response, the ISRO implemented stronger legs for the Vikram lander. These improvements were responsible for the success of Chandrayaan-3.

ISRO launched the spacecraft on July 14th, and it entered the Moon’s orbit about a month later. After following the elliptical orbit, Chandrayaan-3 repositioned into a circular orbit, about 93 miles above the Moon’s surface. The ISRO was finally able to celebrate once Vikram landed. The moon-rover Pragyan was designed to stamp the symbols of the Ashoka Chakra, the wheel on the Indian flag, and the logo of the ISRO while moving along the lunar surface.

Overall, Chandrayaan-3 was expected to cost about $75 million. However, Chandrayaan was launched two years after ISRO’s goal, so the cost was probably greater. Although pricey, the mission was cost effective as the ISRO has a budget of about $1.6 billion (while NASA has a budget of about $24.5 billion). On that note, India spends about 0.04% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on space missions and explorations while the United States spends about 0.28% of its GDP. Even with a lower budget compared to the United States, India was able to land a successful rover on the moon.

Chandrayaan-3 was a success partly due to trial and error, but wasn’t limited by the budget. The pictures of the lunar pole, coupled with the planned experiments, will help scientists all over the world learn more about the Moon.

Information retrieved from Space.com and CNBC