We are down to one spacecraft approaching the Moon’s south pole – India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which is expected to land as early as tomorrow. This is India’s second try for a Moon landing after the loss of Chandrayaan-2, so fingers crossed. Chandrayaan-1 also sent a probe that impacted the Moon, but that was the plan.
We shall see if Indian patience beats Russian bravado.
India Prime Minister Modi put a possible spin on the past missions. Regarding Chandrayaan-1, he said:
Chandrayaan-1 is considered to be a path-breaker among global lunar missions as it confirmed the presence of water molecules on the moon. It featured in over 200 scientific publications around the world.
Even the failed second mission has its successes:
Chandrayaan-2 was equally pathbreaking because data from the Orbiter associated with it detected the presence of chromium, manganese and sodium for the first time through remote sensing. This will also provide more insights into the moon’s magmatic evolution. The key scientific outcomes from Chandrayaan 2 include the first ever global map for lunar sodium, enhancing knowledge on crater size distribution, unambiguous detection of lunar surface water ice with IIRS instrument and more. This Mission has featured in almost 50 publications.
I like the positive attitude.
Our Awesome Universe 