Page plan · 13 pages

Written for: Secondary-school science classes and general audiences

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   Chandrayaan-3: landing near the Moon's south pole

   • Chandrayaan-3 was India's mission to land softly near the Moon's south polar region.
   • The lander touched down on 23 August 2023, a first for any country this close to the pole.
   • This talk follows the journey from launch to landing and the science that followed.
   • We also ask what the landing proved and what it means for future exploration.
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   What the mission set out to do

   • The first goal was a safe, soft landing on the lunar surface.
   • The second was to have a rover drive across the surface and show it could roam.
   • The third was to run scientific experiments on the spot with instruments on the lander and rover.
   • Together these goals tested the technology needed for landing on another world.
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   Lessons from the Chandrayaan-2 lander

   • Chandrayaan-2's lander, Vikram, lost contact during its final descent in September 2019.
   • The orbiter from that mission kept working and was still available to support the new mission.
   • Chandrayaan-3 was designed around a failure-based approach: study what went wrong and fix it.
   • The new lander got more fuel and a larger landing area to give it more room for error.
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   Launch day: 14 July 2023, Sriharikota

   • The launch took place on 14 July 2023 from Sriharikota, India's main spaceport.
   • A LVM3 rocket carried the spacecraft up into an Earth-bound orbit.
   • The spacecraft had a propulsion module, a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan.
   • Launch was only the start; the craft still had to travel to the Moon by itself.
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   Raising the Earth orbit step by step

   • The spacecraft could not fly straight to the Moon, so engine burns raised its orbit in steps.
   • The apogee, the farthest point from Earth, was 41,762 km on 15 July and 41,603 km on 17 July.
   • By 22 July the apogee had climbed to 71,351 km.
   • The perigee, the nearest point, stayed small: 173 km, then 226 km, then 233 km.

   Table: Earth-bound orbit after each reported manoeuvre, July 2023. Source: Chandrayaan-3 mission page, dated mission updates · checked 2026-10-10

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   Shrinking the lunar orbit before the powered descent

   • After reaching lunar orbit, the craft's far point fell from 18,074 km on 5 Aug to 4,313 km on 6 Aug.
   • By 14 Aug the orbit was nearly circular, with a far point of 179 km and a near point of 151 km.
   • After the lander module separated, its near point dropped to 113 km on 19 Aug.
   • On 20 Aug the lander's orbit was 134 km by 25 km, the launch point for the powered descent.

   Line chart: Orbit around the Moon after each reported manoeuvre, August 2023. Source: Chandrayaan-3 mission page, dated mission updates · checked 2026-10-10

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   Naming the landing point 'Shiv Shakti'

   • The landing point was named 'Shiv Shakti', a name announced after the touchdown.
   • Naming a site on the Moon marks where the mission made its mark.
   • The point lies in the Moon's south polar region, which few missions have explored.
   • Place names like this help scientists refer to exact locations in their reports.
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   Instruments on the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover

   • Vikram and Pragyan carried instruments to study the lunar surface at the landing site.
   • The lander carried instruments including ChaSTE for temperature, among others.
   • The rover carried instruments including LIBS to examine what the soil is made of.
   • Each instrument targets a different question: heat, composition or the surface environment.
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   LIBS confirms sulphur in the lunar soil

   • LIBS stands for Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, and it was carried on the Pragyan rover.
   • It fires a laser at the soil, and the glowing light reveals which elements are present.
   • The instrument confirmed sulphur in the lunar soil near the south pole.
   • This kind of in-place measurement shows what the surface is made of without bringing samples home.
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    ChaSTE measures the temperature of the topsoil

    • ChaSTE is the instrument that measures the temperature of the topsoil.
    • It uses a probe that goes into the ground to take readings at different depths.
    • Temperature changes with depth help show how the lunar soil holds and loses heat.
    • Data like this is useful for planning future landers and long stays on the Moon.
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    What a soft landing near the pole proved

    • The landing showed that India could land a spacecraft softly on the Moon.
    • It proved that lessons from the earlier Chandrayaan-2 lander could be turned into success.
    • Reaching the south polar region showed that landing on that rough terrain is possible.
    • The rover's drive and measurements proved the surface experiments could work.
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    How the mission budget compared with other lunar missions

    • Budget comparisons help show how efficiently different lunar missions were run.
    • A fair comparison needs the cost figures and the sources to be checked and matched by year.
    • This page makes no cost claims, since the brief gives no budget figures.
    • Costs depend on the size, goals and design of each mission, so they are not a score of success.
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    What comes next for lunar exploration

    • Chandrayaan-3 adds to a growing set of missions heading to the Moon.
    • Future missions may study the south polar region in more detail.
    • Teams will build on measurements such as soil composition and temperature.
    • Students today could work on the missions that follow.