Decoding India's Lunar Triumph

India became only the fourth country in history on Wednesday to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon: the Chandrayaan-3. It also became the first to achieve a landing on the rugged, unexplored south pole of the moon. This project could solidify India's position as a global space giant. Only the former Soviet Union, China, and the United States have previously succeeded in achieving soft landings on the lunar surface. Indian PM Narendra Modi exclaimed, 'A historic day for India's space sector,' as he virtually witnessed the landing from South Africa.

Why India launched this mission? 

The south pole of the moon is less researched currently because no nation has ever set foot there. The US, China, and USSR have all made landings on the equatorial portion of the moon, but none of these nations have done so on the south polar zone, where landing is difficult due to the topography there. The Chandrayaan -3 mission is aimed at studying prospects of future human exploration, frozen water and Moon's geology. The landing is anticipated to improve India's reputation for space engineering that is competitively priced. With a budget of roughly 6.15 billion rupees ($74 million), the Chandrayaan-3 was launched with less money than it would have taken to make the 2013 Hollywood space thriller "Gravity".

India's lunar lander consists of? 

The three components of India's lunar lander—a lander, a rover, and a propulsion module—gave the spacecraft all the thrust it needed to travel the 384,400 kilometres (238,855 miles) between the moon and Earth. After being launched from the propulsion module, the lander, known as Vikram, made the exact manoeuvres necessary to land gently on the lunar surface. Pragyan, a tiny, six-wheeled rover that will separate from the lander by rolling down a ramp, is concealed within.

India's previous attempt to land on Moon 

Chandrayaan-1, which launched on October 22, 2008, was the first of India's Chandrayaan lunar exploration missions. It was in operation for at least 312 days, making over 3,400 orbits of the moon, until August 29, 2009, when radio contact with the spacecraft was lost. With the intention of investigating the south pole of the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 combined an Orbiter (to orbit the planetary body but not land on it), Lander (to land on its surface), and Rover (to travel on the surface). Due to the collision of its lander Vikram and rover Pragyaan on the Moon's surface on September 7 of that year, it was only partially successful after its July 2019 launch.

What are the future missions of ISRO? 

Aditya L1 - The first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun will be called Aditya L1. The spacecraft will be positioned in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth system's Lagrange point 1, or L1, which is located approximately 1.5 million km from Earth. 

XPoSat - (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite) is India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study various dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions. 

NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR)- It is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) observatory that NASA and ISRO are collaboratively developing. In just 12 days, NISAR will map the entire planet, providing spatially and temporally consistent data for understanding changes in the Earth's ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater, and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides.

Gaganyan - An Indian crewed orbital spacecraft is called Gaganyan. It's meant to serve as the framework for the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. Only three people will fit in this spacecraft. A more advanced model would be capable of rendezvous and docking. Most likely, it will debut in 2024.