INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
BENGALURU: "To boldly go where no man has gone before ..." That was the opening narration for the iconic sci-fi TV show 'Star Trek'
It pretty much summarises the scale of the achievement by India's space scientists on Wednesday.Isro's Chandrayaan-3 made a perfect
touchdown in the south polar region of Moon at 6.03pm Wednesday, pitchforking India into an elite club of nations that have achieved
soft-landing on the lunar surface.The lander, Vikram, representing India's second bid at unravelling mysteries on the unexplored side, made
its final descent from a height of 70km in textbook style
"We have achieved soft-landing ..
This is the beginning of the golden era," said Isro chairman S Somanath amidst applause from scientists and engineers at the operations
centre in Bengaluru.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who watched the landing live from South Africa, said "India's successful moon mission is
the success belongs to all of humanity."Vikram has established communication links with the Missions Operations Complex (MOX) in Bengaluru
The lander carries within it the rover, Pragyan, which has rolled out on to the lunar surface, according to reports, though official
Pragyan's rolling down was designed to leave an imprint of the national emblem and Isro's logo on the lunar surface
It will roam over a bleak, uncharted terrain in days to come, sending back data and visuals.Moon mission accomplished, Venus next?A bout 60%
of all lunar landing missions so far have been a failure
India is now the fourth to land on Moon and the first to land a probe in the south pole region
About 60% of all lunar landing missions so far have been a failure
failed to soft-land in September 2019, has had a four-year journey before the launch on July 14 and another 40 days since then
failure helped perfect Chandrayaan-3
throughout the 40-day journey, overcoming one challenge at a time before the all-critical powered descent kicked off at 5.43pm Wednesday
The project team comprising P Veeramuthuvel (project director), Kalpana K (associate project director), mission director Srikanth and URSC
power descent began with the rough-braking phase that lasted 11.5 minutes, taking Vikram to an altitude of 7.4km
The 10-second altitude holding phase that followed and the three-minute finebraking phase which brought it down to a height of 800m were
The terminal descent phase ended at 6.03pm, sending Indians over the moon.03:26First visuals: Scientists at ISRO ahead of Chandrayaan-3
lunar landingSoon after the landing, Isro carried out a series of checks to verify the health of Vikram before Pragyan rolled out
It was a lot less than 2m/s
said Isro has presented proposals which he was hopeful will get the required backing from the government
Ideas and concepts have been presented
to be completed in a couple of days
Somanath said the launch is scheduled for the first week of September
Some three weeks thereafter or in early October, Isro will also carry out an abort test as part of Gaganyaan
India's lunar quest will continue...
