With Chandrayaan-3, India displays courage and capability to reach for the moon at a shoestring budget
As the nation and the world wait with bated breath, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 is on course to make a soft landing and history today evening on the lunar South Pole. The ISRO scientists must be a bit anxious after Russia's Luna-25 Moon mission encountered problems over the weekend and crashed on the Moon's surface, ending in failure its first Moon mission in 47 years. India’s Chandrayaan-2 had also crash-landed when it developed a glitch just before landing. But failures are an essential part of the learning curve and lead to developing better and more robust strategies for improved missions. Keeping this in mind, ISRO is taking all precautions and has even contemplated August 27 as an alternative date. Plan B has been necessitated with the remote possibility of encountering certain unfavourable set of conditions when the soft landing is attempted today. The health of Chandrayaan-3 is being continuously and vigorously monitored. ISRO has gone to the length of even incorporating the ‘failure-based design’ that focuses on potential failure scenarios and how to protect the mission against adversities to ensure a successful and safe landing.
The Indian spaceship, however, will not be alone on the lunar surface. China’s Chang’e-4 has been operating flawlessly since it landed on the far side of the moon in January. Its arrival was followed by the appearance of Beresheet, a probe built by the Israeli non-profit organisation SpaceIL. It had reached the moon in April but crash-landed. At the same time, the US has pledged to set up lunar laboratories shortly, while Europe and Russia have also unveiled plans to launch complex missions. Suddenly, everyone’s going to the moon. The lunar mission is not just about demonstrating technical capabilities but also about the prestige of the nation and the achievement of geopolitical goals. Indeed, the interest in lunar missions has been inexorably rekindled as the Moon has a lot to offer. The race to explore and develop the moon's resources has begun. The countries that develop capabilities to go to the moon would, needless to point out, have an edge in space exploration. There are other reasons to return to the moon apart from scientific experiments, however. Moon exploration and the usage of its hitherto untapped resources are necessary if we are to take the next giant step in space. And India has made the right move. If Chandrayaan-3 is successful, it will highlight how space is becoming more accessible, and demonstrate India's continued perseverance and tenacity in achieving difficult missions. It also bodes well for India's participation in the new space race to build permanent infrastructure on the Moon. With Chandrayaan, India has shown the courage and the mettle to reach for the moon, and that too at a shoestring budget. So here’s wishing the very best to ISRO scientists and our fellow countrymen, and all space aficionados across the globe in fact, a historic moment in history. May the glory be yours!