Aiming to become the fourth country to achieve a controlled landing on the Moon, India on Friday launched the Chandrayaan-3 rocket from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Russia, USA and China have achieved such landings.
The Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) LVM3 launch rocket blasted off from the country’s main spaceport in the southern state, sending a plume of smoke and fire, television footage showed.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is designed to deploy a lander and rover near the Moon’s south pole around August 23.
Upon landing, it will operate for one lunar day, about 14 Earth days.
Only three other space agencies – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China – have touched a lander on the surface of the Moon. No one has ever landed near the Moon’s south pole.
The third Chandrayaan, which means “lunar vehicle” in Sanskrit, includes a 2-meter-long lander designed to deploy the rover near the lunar south pole, where it will spend two weeks during a series of experiments. It is expected to remain active until
In 2020, ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully placed into orbit, but its lander and rover were destroyed in an accident where Chandrayaan-3 would attempt touchdown.
