India achieved a historic milestone with the Chandrayaan-3 mission, becoming the first nation to safely land a spacecraft on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, 2023. This remarkable feat ignited nationwide celebrations, and to honor this success, India will now celebrate August 23 as “National Space Day.”
The touchdown point of the Chandrayaan-3 lander has been named “Shiv Shakti.” This mission includes a Vikram lander, the Pragyan rover, and a propulsion module. Both the rover and lander are powered by solar energy and are expected to function for one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days.
The mission’s objective is to explore the Moon in various ways, studying its temperatures, seismic activity, and mineral composition. The six-wheeled rover will hunt for ice and signs of water, capturing images, taking measurements, and collecting data to transmit back to Earth. Scientists believe that the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon might hold frozen water.
Here’s an interesting fact: “Chandrayaan” is a Sanskrit word that means “mooncraft.” The name “Vikram Lander” pays homage to Vikram Sarabhai, the visionary who initiated India’s space program, while “Pragyan” means “wisdom” in Sanskrit.
The lunar South Pole is often referred to as the “dark side of the Moon” because it’s never visible from Earth, and there’s no sunlight on that side.
But what happens after 14 days, you may wonder? After 14 Earth days, it becomes night on the Moon for the next 14 Earth days. Since Vikram and Pragyan are solely powered by the Sun, they will become inactive during the lunar night. Will they wake up and continue their exploration? Let’s wait and see!
What did Chandrayaan-3 tell us about the moon?
The presence of a few minerals like sulphur, aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen was confirmed. It also find out that while the temperatures were 50 degrees celsius , within the first 7 cms below the surface it dropped to 0 degrees celsius and -10 degrees celsius 1 cm further below.
