Chandrayaan-3, which means lunar rover in Sanskrit, is the third mission of the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO). The objective of this program was to be able to reach the Moon through a ship, which has no passengers and is monitored from Earth.
The project included, before this third version, two probes that were sent with very different results. In the first instance, the first of these missions (Chandrayaan-1) had very positive results, meeting almost 100% of the planned objectives. These goals were mainly in obtaining data and information from the lunar orbit, of which it was part for 312 days, less than expected, but an error and a loss in control of the probe caused it to end up in the water of our planet. Unlike the next two, the first edition of this program had the support and help, both intellectual and financial, from NASA and the European Space Agency. Despite the good, the second would not suffer the same fate as the first.
In the first instance, Chandrayaan-2 was going to be launched in 2018, but it was postponed a year and a half later, in June 2019. Unlike the previous one, both the financing and all parts of the probe were made by India . The goal was the same as the successor, to reach the south pole of the Moon, but something went wrong. On September 7 (in India, Argentina and the West it was the 6th), the lunar lander called Vikram had planned to make contact with the Moon and then descend and establish itself, but as it approached, ISRO lost total control of the vehicle. . 4 months later, NASA will release some photos and confirm that Chandrayaan-2 had crashed near its expected arrival area. The project had failed and was about to be closed, but the third time is always the charm.
The one to follows her, get her.
ISRO had left a worse image than the one with which it had started the program, and had to request funds to be able to pay for the expedition, which cost a total of 74.6 million dollars, something that may seem like a stratospheric sum, but little compared to other expeditions such as NASA’s MAVEN to Mars of 671 million dollars.
Even the exploration-based films themselves, like Interstellar, had even bigger budgets. Unlike the previous one that had failed, Chandrayaan-3 does not have an orbiter, one of the goals being to achieve the perfect landing on the Moon, in addition to having one less engine unlike its predecessor (4, 5 had in Chandrayaan- 2). Without going into more technical details, on July 14, 2023, the third mission was launched and completed phase one successfully, predicting a good future. One month and 9 days later, on August 23, the moon landing was successful, making India the 4th country to do so, and the first to do so at the South Pole, a historic event.
The south pole of the Moon keeps many secrets and curiosities, due to the complications when exploring it. That is why this program has gained so much renown and recognition, because it can be the starting point for many more with this objective. The southern area of the Earth’s only natural satellite hides a mystery that scientists seek to confirm, because it could change space expeditions: many specialists allege that in this part there are large reserves of frozen water, because it never has contact with the Sun. The existence of water can be of vital help for the human future, which many believe could be far from our planet. In addition to all this, the lunar south pole is larger than the north pole on the surface, having large craters that could contain not only water, but also fossil remains of very ancient species.
Not satisfied with everything done and achieved, India is still going for more. In recent days, more precisely on Saturday, September 2, ISRO launched the Aditya-1 probe, which aims to approach and study the outer layers of the sun. This probe was created in 2018 with a budget of 55 million dollars, with the objective of analyzing these layers over a period of 5 Earth years. Obviously, this probe has no crew, since the heat in proximity to the sun could cause death in moments, that is why inside there are 7 scientific payloads, which study so much, the acceleration and magnetic fields of the solar wind, the coronal heating, coronal magnetometry, among several other goals. One of these goals is to find out the temperature of the atmosphere above 1 million (1,000,273 k) degrees Celsius, a mystery that has not yet been resolved.
India in the last year has given us something to talk about. In mid-June it surpassed China and became the most populated country in the world. It has launched 2 expeditions that have so far been a resounding success and its economy is growing every day. A country that we do not even know what it will be called in the future (there are intentions to change the name to Bharat), today is on the front page of all the newspapers.
It is the fourth country of 195 to leave the earth and go further, today in India, even with its immense problems to solve, they can be proud of what they have achieved.
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