After a failed attempt at a moon landing in 2019, India is trying a second time: the space agency ISRO sent a rocket with a moon probe on Friday at 2:35 p.m. local time (11:05 a.m. German time) from the Satish Dhawan Space Station in the state of Andhra Pradesh board in the direction of the earth satellite. “Start is normal,” it said, while the white rocket rose into the cloudy sky. And: “Any Indian watching the launch live is happy to see history being made.”
With the unmanned mission “Chandrayaan-3”, India wants to explore the rarely explored south side of the moon for around two weeks. But first the landing, which is scheduled to take place on August 23 or 24, has to go well. So far, only the USA, the Soviet Union and China have managed a soft landing. “Chandrayaan” means “lunar vehicle” in Sanskrit.
India’s first attempt failed in 2019. During the Chandrayaan-2 mission, the landing module crashed onto the surface of the Earth’s satellite. The space agency later told the parliament in New Delhi that there were problems with braking during the approach to the moon. Previously, India had already had another mission to the moon: the “Chandrayaan-1” probe was launched in 2008 and orbited the moon without landing on it. In the current mission, the lunar orbit should be reached after around 15 to 20 days, it said. “Chandrayaan-3” will also receive support from ground stations around the world, including from the European space agency Esa, as announced.
Before the second attempt, space agency officials visited the Hindu temple in the city of Tirupati, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, and asked for divine assistance. The head of the agency, Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, told reporters there on Thursday, looking at the spacecraft: “We hope that everything goes well and the probe lands on the moon on August 23.” In India, religion is important to many people. Most are Hindus.
India’s space program began in the 1960s. In the first decades, the focus was primarily on launching certain satellites into space at low cost. The country thus created a reputation for bringing satellites into space comparatively cheaply – also for other countries.
India now has more ambitious goals. Recently, during a visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to US President Joe Biden, increased cooperation on space travel was announced.
In addition to the current moon mission, other projects are planned, which are expected to start from the end of 2024. So there should be missions to Venus (“Shukrayaan-1”) and to Mars (“Mangalyaan-2”). In addition, astronauts are to be sent into space (“Gaganyaan”). The government also wants to increasingly rely on the private sector, private companies are allowed to use the infrastructure of the space agency. Recently, it launched a rocket developed by a local private company into space for the first time.
Some experts criticize that the emerging country with its 1.4 billion inhabitants spends a lot of money on big space projects while many people still live in poverty.
