OVER THE MOON

Chandrayaan-3's success is set to redefine the trajectory of the Indian space sector 

- MANISH PANT

SPACE EXPLORATION

IF SEVERAL WISE men over millennia have revealed that a failure today may pave the path for future success, India’s national space agency—the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)— has amply demonstrated it by successfully landing the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the moon’s South Pole on August 23. This achievement makes India only the fourth after Russia, the US and China to perform a soft landing on the lunar surface, and the first to do so on the moon’s dark side.

Once the news of Vikram Lander touching down on the lunar regolith— bombarded by meteorites, solar particles and cosmic rays since the time earth’s natural satellite came into being—broke at 18:02 IST, the nation of 1.43 billion people erupted in euphoric celebrations. The convergence of 8 million viewers on YouTube to witness the triumph of Isro scientists broke all records previously set during the 2022 Football World Cup matches and music video releases by the South Korean boy band BTS. In his congratulatory address from the BRICS summit in South Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alluding to the country’s future interplanetary ambitions, said, “We refer to the earth as our mother and the moon as our Mama (maternal uncle) in India. ‘Chanda Mama is quite far away’ used to be the refrain. Soon, children will say things like, ‘Chanda Mama is just a tour away.’”