Chandrayaan-3 Set To Make Historic Moon Landing Today; Watch the Touchdown Live
India is making history today! Its lunar probe Chandrayaan-3 will be making a historic moon-landing early Wednesday.
Watch Chandrayaan-3's Historic Moon Landing
Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is expected to touch down near the moon's south pole Wednesday morning around 8:34 a.m. EDT (1234 GMT; 6:04 p.m. Indian Standard Time, or IST). If the landing is successful, it will make India just the fourth country - after the Soviet Union, the U.S., and China - to ace a soft landing on the moon.
You can watch the touchdown online courtesy of the Indian Space Research Organisation via ISRO's channel or video streaming below this article. Live coverage begins at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT; 5:20 p.m. IST).
So far, the Chandrayaan-3 mission has gone without a hitch. On July 14, the spacecraft was launched, and on Aug. 5, it successfully entered lunar orbit. The stage was prepared for Wednesday's touchdown attempt when Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander detached from its propulsion module on Aug. 17.
The lunar south pole, considered abundant in water ice, will be nearby during that endeavor. Chandrayaan-3 won't be the first probe to explore this area on the ground, although none have ever attempted.
If Vikram makes a successful landing on Wednesday, Pragyan, a little rover, will be released into the drab ground. The two robots will subsequently use various scientific tools to observe and investigate their environment for around one lunar day (about 14 Earth days).
India will attempt its second lunar landing on Wednesday. The nation's Chandrayaan-2 lander had issues during its descent and crashed into the drab gray ground in the first attempt, which took place in 2019, and it was a failure.
Russia's Moon Mission Failed
Aside from India, Russia was also working on its moon mission. On Aug. 10, the Russian probe Luna 25 lifted off.
It took a more straight route and made it to lunar orbit on Aug 16. Its operators plan to bring it to the surface at the landing site on Aug. 21 at around dawn.
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has not carried out a fruitful interplanetary mission. Therefore, success in its latest attempt was not sure. Nevertheless, Luna 25 had a 70% likelihood of success, according to Yuri Borisov of the Russian space agency Roscomos.
However, the country lost communication with the robotic spacecraft on Saturday around 2: 57 p.m. Moscow time. Russia's lunar mission reportedly failed after Luna 25 crashed into the moon's surface.
Roscosmos reportedly tried to contact the device but yielded no results. It remains unclear what caused the crash.
RELATED ARTICLE: Metallic Flying Saucer That Comes Out From Cloud 'Definitive Proof' We Are Not Alone, UAP Hunter Claims
Check out more news and information on Space in Science Times.
