A 19-minute landing sequence ended successfully when the 1,726-kilogram Vikram lander, part of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, made a soft landing on the previously unexplored South Pole of the moon at 6:04 PM Indian Standard Time on 23 August 2023. India’s space agency, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), then confirmed successful two-way communication with the orbiting propulsion module. The landing made India the fourth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon, following the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China, and only the second country to do so in the 21st century, after China. Russia’s Luna-25 lander had been launched on 10 August 2023, being scheduled to land on the moon on 21 August, but crashed two days before its landing date.
The Vikram lander module, named for ISRO founder and Cambridge-educated astrophysicist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, was carrying a 26-kilogram six-wheeled rover-a robot named Pragyaan (“wisdom”). The propulsion module was launched on 14 July from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, using a Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket. The rover is expected to unravel the mineral composition of the polar surface and to study the atmosphere in the vicinity. The South Pole is believed to hold reserves of water ice, along with minerals, that may support human colonisation of the moon and allow use of planet earth’s satellite as a base for outward space exploration. Exploration is expected to continue for around 14 Earth days, which equal one Lunar day. The lander also carried a seismometer to detect moonquakes, a thermal probe to measure surface temperature gradients, and a plasma probe to study solar charged particles at the lunar surface.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at a summit of leaders of BRICS nations in Johannesburg when news of the successful moon landing emerged. A jubilant Mr Modi, speaking via a live ISRO webcast, claimed that “this success belongs to all of humanity, and it will help moon missions by other countries in the future.” Within India, the news was widely welcomed by patriotic and proud Indians, who gathered in public spaces in front of large screens to witness the nation’s achievement.
India is not a newcomer to the field of space exploration, and Indian satellites have been engaged in communications, meteorological observations, and surface studies of planet earth since the 1970s. The ISRO, which is headquartered in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, was formed on 15 August 1969, replacing the Indian National Committee for Space Research, which had been set up by the Government of India in 1962. ISRO’s stated objective is to promote and develop the application of space science and space technology. The government also established a Space Commission and Department of Space in June 1972 to reinforce its space credentials.
India’s space journey began with the firing of its first sounding rocket in November 1963, from the spaceport of Thumba in the state of Kerala. India’s first earth satellite, the Aryabhata technology satellite, was launched in April 1975. In April 1984, Rakesh Sharma embarked on a 21-day space mission aboard Soyuz T-11, alongside two Soviet counterparts, thereby becoming the first Indian space traveller.
India’s first lunar orbital mission, Chandrayaan (“moon vehicle”)-1, was launched on 22 October 2008. Chandrayaan-1 discovered lunar water ice, but lost contact with the ISRO after 312 days of a planned two-year mission. Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July 2019, but crashed into the lunar surface on 6 September. Meanwhile, India successfully placed the Mars Orbiter Mission into orbit around Mars in 2014, in India’s first interplanetary mission. In June 2023, India became the 27th signatory to the Artemis Accords, a three-year-old US State Department- and NASA-backed initiative to advance sustainable lunar exploration and exploitation of raw material resources on the moon. ISRO’s ambitious space programme includes the launch of Aditya-L1, a space-based solar probe, in September 2023, the Gaganyaan (“celestial vehicle”) manned spaceflight project in 2023/2024, and a follow-up to the Mars Orbiter Mission.
India’s successful lunar mission is expected to enhance its global profile and to enable its active participation in an emerging global space economy. Costing a mere £58 million, this mission can be considered frugal when judged by the usual costs of space missions. Nevertheless, the news of India’s success has met with a mixed response outside of the nation’s borders. In the West, some media commentators, as well as members of the general public, have questioned India’s space activities in the light of domestic poverty and other socioeconomic issues. Patrick Christys, a GB News presenter in the UK, urged India to return £2.3 billion in foreign aid provided by Britain between 2016 and 2021. In doing so, he touched a raw nerve. The Indian public and some politicians responded vigorously on social media and other public arenas, in turn demanding return of the Kohinoor diamond and of the estimated £9.2 trillion that the British took out of India between 1765 and 1938.
Despite beliefs to the contrary, India’s space programme is well-established, thriving, and by no means a new and diversionary gimmick. In the current climate, India’s political leadership and much of its general public appear unlikely to take admonitions from ex-colonial powers lightly, especially at a time of growing grievances against the perceived legacy of British rule. The bigger question, however, is how much effort should be expended in exploring and then exploiting the uncharted resources of space, given the depredations of human beings on planet Earth.
Ashis Banerjee