Chandrayaan-3 Landing: India watched in rapt attention as the countdown for Chandrayaan-3's landing drew closer to its end, and as the lander module successfully made soft landing on the lunar surface, celebrations broke out across the country and at Mission Operations Complex of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in Bengaluru on Wednesday. What is remarkable is that the lander touched lunar surface near the South Pole of the moon, after completing a journey of 3.84 lakh km traversed for over the course of 40 days. 

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Chandrayaan-3 Landing: Plan executed perfectly

Everything went as per ISRO's plans. The Chandrayaan-3 moon lander successfully planted its four legs softly and safely on the lunar soil at 6.05 PM — making India the fourth nation in the world to achieve the feat and the first to land on moon's South Pole. 

The 19 minutes of suspense and excitement began at 5.45 p.m., as planned earlier, and ended at 6.05 PM. with the lander successfully soft landing on the lunar soil.

Also Read - Chandrayaan 3 Mission: India is now on the moon, says PM Modi

PM called up ISRO chief S Somnath, and congratulated him and his team on this historic feat. "Somnath Ji, your name is Somnath, which is associated with the moon, and therefore your family members will also be very happy today. Many many congratulations to you and your entire team from my side," PM Modi said in the telephone conversation. 

 

Chandrayaan-3 Landing: ISRO chief congratulates team

Following the landing, ISRO Chief S Somnath said, "India is now on the Moon!" He congratulated his team on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, saying, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the people behind this mission."

 

Chandrayaan-3: Components 

The Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft consists of a propulsion module that weighs 2,148 kg, a moon lander weighing 1,723.89 kg and a rover which weighs 26 kg.

As per ISRO, Chandrayaan 3's moon rover contain Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) that will derive the elemental composition close to the landing site.

 

Chandrayaan-3: Lander's payloads

Chandrayaan-3's lander contains — 
a) Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) - for measuring the thermal conductivity and temperature;
b) Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) - to measure seismic activity around the landing site, 
c) Langmuir Probe (LP) - which will estimate the plasma density and its variations; and, 
d) Passive Laser Retroreflector Array - Provided by NASA, it will conduct lunar laser ranging studies.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was successfully launched into orbit on July 14 via India's heavy lift rocket LVM3. The spacecraft completed orbiting around the Earth and headed towards the moon on August 1.