India also wants to go to the moon: Chandrayaan-3 successfully launched
It is an achievement that has only been achieved by a few countries. The US is still the only unmistakable lunar men. The US space program was the only one to put humans on the lunar surface. China and the then Soviet Union also managed to put spacecraft on the moon, but without human passengers. India now wants to join the ranks. Again with an unmanned mission, that is.
Hard moon landing versus a soft one
Crashing a space probe into the moon is one thing. In the highly sophisticated realms of space travel jargon, this is called a hard landing. And the Indian lunar program has already succeeded with the Chandrayaan-1. What the Chandrayaan-2 was trying to do is definitely trickier. In order for a space probe to make a so-called soft landing, a lot of calculations are required in addition to a few rockets. With the Chandrayaan-2, the calculations turned out to be somewhat lacking. The probe unexpectedly made a hard landing.
Chandrayaan-3 in orbit in orbit
Fortunately, the launch of probe number three went well. Authorities say the probe is now in orbit and on its way to the moon. That journey will take some time. If all goes according to plan, Chandrayaan-3 will land on the lunar surface on August 23. Hopefully this time ‘soft’.
The probe consists of a lunar lander, a propulsion module and a lunar rover. In total, the entire package and the accompanying mission cost about 75 million dollars. The probe will cover 300,000 kilometers in the coming weeks. Once on the moon, the mission is to test the lunar rover’s capabilities. It is expected to function for about 14 days (one lunar day). Scientific measurements and experiments will also be carried out. For example, the lunar lander will investigate the composition of the lunar surface.
In the coming weeks, the probe will circle the Earth a few times to build up speed. By early August, the probe should have built up enough speed to make the big jump to the moon. Scientists from the Indian space program have engineered the probe’s path so that it departs for the moon at the point when it is closest to Earth.
It is not just the Indian government that is getting involved in the space race. Earlier, Indian start-up Skyroot sent a mini rocket into space.
