India’s Chandrayaan-3 has landed on the moon’s south pole, making India the first country to reach that region. The successful moon mission has made India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the lunar surface after the US, China, and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Parties and prayers were held with great fervour across the country ahead of the historic lunar touchdown. ISRO is live telecasting the landing event on its ISRO website. The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from Sriharikota. The Vikram lander began its descent toward the moon surface at a velocity of 1.68 km per second. It then slowed down before beginning a powered vertical descent to the surface of the moon.
The real test of the mission began at the last leg of the landing. Prior to 20 minutes before landing, ISRO initiated Automatic Landing Sequence (ALS). It enabled Vikram LM to take charge and use its on-board computers and logic to identify a favourable spot and make a soft-landing on the lunar surface. Given the history of India’s second lunar mission, which failed during the last 20 minutes before landing, ISRO was extra-cautious this time in the process. Due to high risk to the spacecraft minutes before moon landing, the duration is dubbed by many as “20 or 17 minutes of terror”. During this phase, the whole process became autonomous, where Vikram lander ignited its own engines at the right times and altitudes.
The spacecraft’s Vikram lander made the soft landing at 6.04 PM (IST), ending the disappointment over the crash-landing of the Chandrayaan-2 lander four years ago. According to ISRO, the mission’s three objectives are to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to demonstrate a Rover roving on the Moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.