Anand Kumar Sharma

The Moon, the largest and brightest celestial object in the night sky, has always been much coveted by humankind. The only natural satellite of the Earth, it has been a centre of attention for ages, more than any other heavenly body. It is expected that an understanding of the Moon may provide us a pathway to unravel the early evolution of our solar system and that of Earth.

After the failure of soft landing of the Lander of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, within four years India has bounced back to the next lunar mission with robust technologies, enhanced redundancies, and better understanding. India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3 will shed light on a completely unexplored region of the Moon, its South Polar Region.

Looking Back

Chandrayaan-1 was India's first lunar and highly successful mission. It was launched by PSLV-C11 on 22 October 2008 and was operational till 29 August 2009.  Chandrayaan-1 discovered traces of water on the Moon – a path-breaking discovery in space science. Global imaging of the Moon was another major achievement of this mission.

India's second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 was launched on board GSLV Mk III (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, now renamed now as LVM III) rocket on 22 July 2019. While Chandrayaan-1 was designed for remote-sensing observations of the Moon surface, Chandrayaan-2 is a…read more on NOPR