Mission status: The Indian moon mission was a success and landed on Earth’s satellite at 2:34 p.m. Swiss time. Four years ago, the Indian space program Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) wanted to land on the moon, but this mission crashed. The Russian space program also failed due to the soft landing on the earth’s satellite, only four days ago a research aircraft crashed on the moon’s surface.
India’s Moon Mission: The autonomous Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-3 has been on its way to the moon since mid-July. She was launched on July 14 from the main spaceport in the state of Andra Pradesh. Isro planned to land the rocket on the moon’s south pole. It is the first landing of human-crafted objects at the lunar South Pole. There craters with water ice are suspected. India is still an emerging country.
What does this moon landing mean? It shows that India is increasingly to be reckoned with as a space nation. In the second attempt, the country acquired the necessary know-how to land unmanned in the demanding terrain near the moon’s south pole. The Indian government wants to expand this know-how considerably. Chandrayaan-3 will go down in history as the first landing near the moon’s south pole, which is rich in water ice. However, the scientific and technical gain in knowledge is small from an international point of view.
Why the run on the moon? A whole series of countries currently want to go to the moon – for various reasons: the USA, Europe and China, for example, are planning long-term stays with people who are supposed to mine water ice or precious metals at the South Pole and learn how to use them to produce drinking water or rocket fuel. Long-term goal: fly from the moon directly to Mars and into deep space. For countries like India, the main issue at the moment is making a political statement about mastering difficult “rocket science”.
What does India want on the moon? “India wants to prove that it is able to land a space shuttle gently and safely,” says SRF South Asia correspondent Maren Peters. So far, only the USA, the Soviet Union and China have succeeded in doing so. India then wants to drive a lunar vehicle around on the surface and take lots of photos. One goal is to investigate the seismic activity – possible moonquakes – says Peters. At some point, India also wants to put people on the moon, so it is important that the landing is successful.
Legend:
A young fan of the Indian space program celebrates the launch of the moon rocket.
Reuters/Amit Dave
Economic aspects: The country wants to sell satellite communications in the future and – like the USA – pave the way for the private sector into space. “In terms of security policy, India is planning to develop its own regional navigation system in order to become more independent of the US GPS system,” says Peters.
Criticism: There is also isolated criticism of the moon program, because in India millions of people still live in abject poverty, but this criticism is lost in the media reports.