Week 35, 2023: India Becomes Fourth Nation to Land on the Moon
Chandrayaan-3 on the clean room before launch, 2023-Jun-23
On August 23, 2023 the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-3 mission lands successfully on a region between the Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters, marking India the fourth country to successfully land on the Moon. Launched in July 14, 2023 the mission is a repeat of its predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, of which the latter's lander was destroyed on its landing attempt in 2019. The landing site was named Shiv Shakti Point, and is located on 69.367621°S 32.348126°E. A few days prior, the Russian Luna 25 lander was lost after a programming error during its descent orbit insertion caused it to crash to the lunar surface
Both the lander (Vikram-2) and the rover (Pragyan-2) are designed to study the lunar surface for 14 Earth-days, and are expected to cease operations by lunar nightfall (NET Sept 4th). Like its predecessor, the orbiter portion will continue to study the Moon for a long period of time, at least 6 months or longer
Source: SpaceNews
Highlights for Chandrayaan-3 (as of 2023-Aug-31)
Chandrayaan-3 Mission Soft-landing LIVE Telecast - YouTubeOfficial livestream of Chandrayaan-3's landing, 2023-Aug-23
The landing site, Shiv Shakti, as seen from the orbiter of Chandrayaan-2, 2023-Aug-23
Pragyan-2 being deployed from Vikram-2, 2023-Aug-24
Vikram-2 on the lunar surface as seen from Pragyan-2, 2023-Aug-30