QUESTONLINE.ORG.ZA Quest Vol. 19 No. 3 | 2023 39
LUNAR ROVER ON THE MOON’S SOUTH POLE | NEWS
India puts lunar rover on the moon’s south pole
– a historic first
On 24 August 2023, India became only the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first in history to land on the unexplored south pole of the moon. The Indian population and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cheered on as the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission completed a long-awaited soft landing on the lunar surface – livestreamed and watched by millions more across the globe – an achievement well worthy of celebration.
“It is a matter of pride and a pat on the back for Indian scientists,” Modi said at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg shortly after the historic landing, according to Reuters.
The successful landing, already hailed as one of India’s greatest scientific achievements, came only days after the Russian Luna-25 moon mission failed, crashing onto the lunar surface.
On 24 August 2023, India became only the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first in history to land on the unexplored south pole of the moon. The
Indian population and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cheered on as the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission completed a long-awaited soft landing on the lunar surface – livestreamed and watched by millions more across the globe – an achievement
well worthy of celebration.
“The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
ISRO chief S. Somanath said the “Pragyan” rover has several instruments to conduct experiments on the moon, including element and chemical composition of the lunar dust and rocks.
All of the previous spacecraft to have landed on the moon have landed in the region near the equator, according to The Indian Express, because it is easier and safer there. The polar regions of the moon lie in a completely dark region without sunlight, and temperatures can go below 230 degrees Celsius. This creates difficulties with the operation of instruments. In addition, there are large craters all over the place. As a result, the polar regions of the moon have
ISRO A rendering of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission on the surface of the moon.
40 Quest Vol. 19 No. 3 | 2023 QUESTONLINE.ORG.ZA
The view from the Chandrayaan-3 Lunar Lander just before it touched down near the moon’s south pole.
have remained largely unexplored until now. But the extremely cold temperatures could also mean that anything trapped in the region would remain frozen in time, without undergoing much change, and so the rocks and soil at the moon’s south pole could provide clues to the early solar system.
The achievement is all the more laudable in light of the fact that an earlier Indian mission, Chandrayaan-2, also planned to land in this region in 2019, but it was not able
to accomplish a soft landing and lost contact after it hit the surface.
Since the landing, the moon lander Vikram and robotic rover Pragyan has already made significant discoveries, such as confirming the presence of sulfur in lunar soil, and even picking up the seismic activity of a very small
“moonquake” that turned out to be from the Apollo 17 lander.
ISRO, Reuters, The Indian Express
NEWS | LUNAR ROVER ON THE MOON’S SOUTH POLE
Ka la 24 Phato 2023 India e bile setšhaba sa bone fela go kotama sefofane sa lefaufau ngwedi, le sa mathomo historing go kotama ka sou yeo e sa hlahlobjago.
Translated into Sesotho sa Leboa/Sepedi by Tebatso Isaac Makwala
Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf)
ASSAf Research Repository http://research.assaf.org.za/
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