«We have confidence and expect everything to go smoothly»
India is preparing to attempt a landing from its Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft on the moon. The Vikram lander was scheduled to land at the south pole of the moon shortly after 6 pm Indian time on Wednesday.
India is gearing up for a second moon landing attempt, a historic moment for the world's most populous country, according to Agence France-Presse.
It is planned that Chandrayan-3, which means «lunar ship» in Sanskrit, will land its Vikram lander on shortly after 18:00 (12:00 GMT) near the little-studied South Pole of the Moon, in what would be the world's first such event for any space program.
India's previous attempt failed in 2019, and the latest mission took place just a few days after the first Russian mission to the moon in nearly 50 years, intended for the same region, crashed on the surface of our natural satellite.
Former head of the Indian space agency, K. Sivan, said the latest photographs transmitted by the lander give every reason to believe that the final leg of the journey will be successful.
«This gives some hope that we will be able to complete landing mission without any problems, – he told AFP on Monday.
Sivan added that the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) made adjustments after a failure four years ago when scientists lost contact with the lunar module moments before its scheduled landing. will be more durable, – said the former head of the Indian space agency. – We have confidence and expect everything to go smoothly.
The lunar mission launched in India almost six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, but it took much longer to reach the moon than the Apollo missions. in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived there in a matter of days, notes Agence France-Presse.
India uses much less powerful missiles than the US then had. Instead, the probe circled Earth several times to gain speed before setting off on its monthly lunar path.
The spacecraft's Vikram lander, which means «valor» in Sanskrit, separated from its propulsion module last week and has been sending back images of the Moon's surface since entering lunar orbit on August 5.
The day before touchdown, ISRO posted on social media that everything was on schedule and that its flight control suite was «overflowing with energy and excitement.»
«Smooth sailing continues,» – the agency reported on X, formerly Twitter.
India has a relatively low-budget aerospace program, but it has grown significantly in scope and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008, Agence France-Presse emphasizes.
Last mission cost 74.6 million dollars – much lower than other countries, which is in line with India's modest space technology.
Experts say India can keep costs down by copying and adapting existing space technology, as well as an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn several times less than their foreign counterparts.
In 2014, India became the first Asian country to put a satellite into orbit around Mars, and plans to launch a crewed mission into Earth orbit in the next few years, starting with uncrewed test flights in 2024.
Sivan, the former head of ISRO, said India's exploration efforts on the uncharted South Pole of the Moon would make a «very, very important» contribution. contribution to scientific knowledge.
As Agence France-Presse recalls, only Russia, the United States and China have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface.