India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft closes in on Moon landing, as it races Russia
India's space agency has released images of the Moon taken from its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft as it approaches the lunar south pole, a previously unexplored region in which water ice has been detected — and where Russia is trying to land first.
The videos, taken on Thursday just after the separation of the rocket's lander from the propulsion module, showed a close-up of craters.
"The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113km x 157km," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.
The ISRO launched the rocket carrying the spacecraft on July 14, blasting off from the country's main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The lander is scheduled to attempt a touchdown on August 23.
Rough terrain is expected to complicate a landing on the lunar south pole. A previous mission by India's space agency, the Chandrayaan-2, crashed in 2019 near where the Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a touchdown.
Chandrayaan, which means "Moon vehicle" in Sanskrit, includes a 2-metre-tall lander designed to deploy a rover expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
View from the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1
on August 17, 2023
just after the separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module
Russian craft on track to land before India's
Russia says its Moon mission is on track to land its Luna-25 lander on August 21, just two days before India's.
Russia launched its first Moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on August 11, taking a more direct course to reach the Moon's south pole where scientists have detected water ice that could be used for fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future Moon missions or a lunar colony.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos has said the Luna-25 mission would spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending to one of three possible landing sites near the pole.
Both India and Russia have national interests in successful landings and in claiming the historic first at stake.
For Russia, the moonshot, which has been planned for decades, will test the nation's growing independence in space after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine severed nearly all of its space ties with the West.
For India, a successful Moon landing would mark its emergence as a space power at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is looking to spur investment in private space launches and related satellite-based businesses.
Indian officials have privately played down the race with Russia to land first, saying there was no competition.
