The Varanasi landing site: a central hub for research and research in India, the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom

Just days after Russia’s Luna-25 failed to reach its intended goal of the same lunar region, India has successfully landed. It would have been the first Russian landing on the moon in 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.

The population of India is the world’s largest and people everywhere are excited and anxious. The city of Varanasi, in northern India, is considered to be one of the holiest sites in the world, and thousands of people prayed for its success on Tuesday.

It was said that a successful landing would spark a passion for exploration among the youth. “It instills a sense of pride and unity in our community, as we celebrate the prowess of Indian science and technology.” It will help to foster the environment of scientific inquiry and innovation.

Many countries and private companies are interested in the south pole region because permanently shadowed craters may hold frozen water that could help future astronaut missions.

The lander and rover module of Chandrayaan-2 will provide data on the properties of lunar soil and rocks to the scientific community.

The recent crash of the Russia’s Luna 25 mission is a stark reminder of how hard it is to land a craft on the Moon. Japan and Israel have crashed lunar landers trying to land on the Moon. Only China has successfully landed Chang’e missions on the Moon in the last few years. The United States and Soviet Union are the only other nations that have successfully put craft on the lunar surface.

India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission in 2008 confirmed that there are water deposits in the permanently shadowed moon craters.

The anticipation for a successful landing increased after Russia’s failed attempt and as China reaches for new landmarks in space. In May, China launched a three-person crew for its orbiting space station and hopes to put astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade. Relations between India and China have plunged since deadly border clashes in 2020.

Several countries and private companies are attempting to land a vehicle on the moon. The company’s craft crashed while trying to land on the moon. An Israeli nonprofit tried to achieve a similar feat in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact.

A Chinese company wants to have landers on the moon by the end of the year, while the other US companies are trying to get there first. NASA plans to land astronauts at the south pole of the moon in the future, taking advantage of the frozen water in the craters.

Luna 25: A Russian Spacecraft Approaching the Moon’s South Pole to Land at About 10 AM Eastern Time on Aug. 23, 2014 at 8:14 am Eastern Time

India’s program of space exploration is a source of national pride, as are the country’s growing number of commercial space start-ups. India’s recent efforts in space exploration also closely mirror the country’s diplomatic push as an ambitious power on the rise.

The lander was flown as close to the moon as 15 miles above the surface. On Wednesday at around 8:14 a.m. Eastern time, ISRO says the spacecraft will fire its engines to bring itself out of orbit and begin a descent to the surface. It will get some help to reach a soft landing from the engines.

The Indian space program will give a live video stream from the control room in Bengaluru. You can watch it on ISRO’s YouTube channel or website starting at 7:50 a.m. Eastern.

The Aug. 23 landing was selected because it is the day when the sun will rise at the landing site. The mission is to conclude two weeks later when the sun sets. While on the surface, the solar-powered lander and rover will use a range of instruments to make thermal, seismic and mineralogical measurements.

The Moon’s south pole — a challenging region to land in — has drawn interest from many nations because of the possibility that it contains water ice, and the large craters near it could offer clues about the composition of the early Solar System. The Russian craft Luna 25 crashed into the Moon just before it was going to attempt to land at the south pole, just days before several missions are headed there in the coming years.

The altitude fell from 30 to 7.4 kilometers and the craft’s speed slowed from 1,680 to 358 meters per second during the power descent phase. During the following altitude hold phase, for 10 seconds the craft turned its altimeters towards the moon’s surface to take a reading of how far it was from the regolith. Then began the fine braking phrase, which ran for nearly 3 minutes, as the altitude was reduced to 800 meters.

The vertical descent phase began around 8:29 am Eastern time, and the craft began its approach to the lunar surface, turning to orient its four legs towards the landing site. It briefly hovered 150 meters above the surface as the craft’s sensors took readings of the safety of the landing site and re-targeted accordingly. The people at the mission control headquarters of the indian navy cheered when it set down on the regolith. “India is on the moon!” exclaimed ISRO chairman Vikram Sarabhai. Sarabhai then asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was watching the telecast remotely, to speak. All the people of the world, I would like to extend my best wishes on this happy occasion. Modi said in the address that India’s successful moon mission is not limited to India. The success belongs to all of humanity and it will help other countries send astronauts to the moon. I am positive that all countries in the world, even those from the global south, are capable of achieving such things. We can all aspire for the moon and beyond.”

The landing “gives confidence to configure missions to go to the Moon, Mars, Venus, maybe even asteroids”, ISRO chairman S. Somanath told a press briefing.

These include a new laser sensor to measure the real-time velocity of the spacecraft relative to the Moon, algorithms to handle unanticipated deviations in propulsion or trajectory and better judge the landing terrain, bigger and more solar panels, more fuel, a heavier lander equipped with four sturdier legs to handle a faster landing velocity.

Landing at the south pole of the Moon is difficult because of the terrain and the fact that it involves a different angle from previous landings.

In particular, it requires putting the spacecraft into a polar orbit that is at right angles to the Moon’s orbit, says Norman. “This requires additional energy to move the spacecraft into an ‘unnatural’ orbit, which introduces uncertainties on critical aspects such as velocity and location of the spacecraft.”

Lack of sufficiently detailed data on the region’s gravity and surface characteristics compound the problem, says Norman. The mission could be compromised if the landers lands on a crater, a slope or a boulder.

Moon quakes near the area add complexity, says geologist Saumitra Mukherjee at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, whose team analysed images sent by India’s first lunar mission, Chadrayaan-1, which launched in 2008 and detected cliffs and signs of displaced underground rocks in two craters near the lunar south pole.

The lighting from the Sun is not good. Torin Clark, an astronomer at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that most areas are dark and some in the light. The Apollo landings were notable for ensuring quality lighting of the lunar terrain such as rocks and craters.