Chandrayaan-3 Successfully Lands on the Moon

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module on the surface of the Moon.

“Congratulations ISRO on this historic landing. ESA is proud to support the Chandrayaan-3 mission.”

Rolf Densing, ESA

Chandrayaan-3 launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota Range (SDSC SHAR), India, on 14 July 2023 on a mission to demonstrate new technologies and to achieve India’s first soft landing on another celestial body. The spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit on 5 August. On 17 August, the lander module separated from the propulsion module and soon after began its descent to the surface.

On August 23, ISRO confirmed that Chandrayaan-3’s lander had successfully touched down in the Moon’s southern polar region as planned.

“Congratulations ISRO on this historic landing. ESA is proud to support the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Our ground stations are a core element of ESA’s support to its international partners, and I am pleased that with this activity, we are further strengthening ESA’s relationship with ISRO and with India. I look forward to supporting further pioneering ISRO missions, such as Aditya-L1, in the future,” says Rolf Densing, Director of Operations at ESA’s ESOC mission operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.

Chandrayaan-3 Rover to be Deployed ‘Soon’

The lander will soon deploy its rover. During its mission on the surface, which will last for one lunar day (14 days on Earth), the rover will carry out a number of scientific experiments.

ESA stations will continue to relay telemetry and scientific data gathered by the mission’s rover and lander module until the end of the surface operations.

ESA is providing deep space communication support to the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Communication is an essential part of every space mission. Ground stations on Earth keep operators connected to spacecraft as they venture into the unknown. Without ground station support, it’s impossible to get any data from a spacecraft, to know how it’s doing, to know if it is safe or even to know where it is.

For the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ESA is coordinating routine support from its Kourou station in French Guiana and from Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd in the UK. These stations complement support from NASA’s Deep Space Network and ISRO’s own stations.

(Source: ESA news release. Images provided)