Can India do it this time?, I want to be the world's fourth ship | Moon | World
On Friday, an Indian spacecraft roared towards the far side of the moon.
The Lunar Ship 3 probe took off from a launch pad located on the island of Srihrigoda in southern India.
Applause and cheers echoed through the mission control room of Satish Dawan Space Center. Outside the mission control room, thousands of Indians cheered and waved the Indian flag.
Shortly after the launch of the rocket, S Somanat, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, said, "Congratulations to India. 'Luna 3' has embarked on a journey to the moon."
According to the Times website on July 13th, India will launch a lunar landing mission from a space port in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Friday.
If successful, India will become the fourth country, after the United States, Soviet Union, and China, to achieve a soft landing of unmanned spacecraft on the surface of the moon. Japan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and India have all attempted to do so, but have all failed.
The $75 million lunar rover mission consists of a lander and a lunar rover. If everything goes according to plan, it will land on August 23rd or 24th, closer to the South Pole of the Moon than any previous mission.
The Indian space program has made significant progress in the past decade. In 2014, India launched a satellite into orbit around Mars, and in 2017, 104 satellites were launched using a rocket.
Sir Martin Reese, a cosmologist and Royal Astronomer of the United Kingdom, believes that the destination of Luna 3- the South Pole of the Moon - may be the most promising location for establishing a base in the future. He proposed that the best place for human settlement may be Shackleton Crater, which has a diameter of about 21 kilometers and a depth of about 4 kilometers.
He believes that the top of the edge of Shackleton Crater, which is always under sunlight, may be the best place to establish a base - especially if the bottom, which is always in shadow, proves to be a water source area.
An Indian carrier rocket named Mark-3 will take off from Srihrigoda Space Port on the east coast at 2:35 pm local time on Friday.
The lander is named "Vikram" and is equipped with instruments that can detect lunar tremors and other data around the landing site. The lunar rover is named "Pragian" and will explore the area near the landing site. The experiments it will conduct include bombarding lunar rocks with lasers and analyzing the released gases.
"We landed on the moon not just to prove that we can do it, but to help the world understand important elements and minerals, and perhaps one day, to build a second home for humanity," said Anil Badawaj, director of the Indian Physics Research Laboratory, in an interview with the Hindustan Times
In 2019, India attempted a "soft landing" on the surface of the moon, but ultimately failed. The spacecraft was successfully launched, but a software malfunction caused the lander to collide with the moon too quickly.
