In 2019, when the Chandryaan-2 crashed while descending to the lunar surface, the disappointment overshadowed the hard work ISRO had put into the mission. With the Chandryaan-3 successfully landing on the moon, the jubilations are running high, and the facts behind the mission look mind-boggling.
The result of Chandryaan-3’s safe landing resulted in ISRO Chief S Somanath triumphed and said, “India is on the moon.” He further thanked the entire team and leaders alike for their contribution to the project.
When asked about the budget of the mission, he laughed, saying, “I won’t disclose such secrets. We don’t want everyone else to become so cost-effective!” According to the NYT, he later said, “These are very cost-effective missions. No one in the world can do it like we do.”
Meanwhile, addressing the scientists virtually, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the nation. “This is a historic movement and sounds the bugle for a developed India”, he said.
Many international newspapers also rose to bow down to the ISRO for the achievement. Talking of trumping and “outdoing” America and Russia, the New York Times congratulated and acknowledged India’s longstanding science and technology embrace.
With the launch of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, India has set forth new records and historic moments for the world. Here are some of them:
South Pole
India has become the first country to soft-land near the south pole region of the moon. All the previous landings have been near the moon’s equator. The South Pole has various minerals and waters that have not yet been explored.
Budget Less Than Hollywood Space Movies
The budget of Chandrayaan-3 was $75 million, about half the cost of the Hollywood movie Interstellar, which was made at $165 million. Blockbuster movies such as Gravity, which cost $100 million, and The Martian, which cost $108 million, were much more expensive.
UK Real Estate
Moreover, it costs almost a quarter of the most expensive home in the UK, which is located in London’s most prestigious neighborhood, Regent Park. It went on sale at $419 million.
Beating SpaceX
A single Falcon 9 rocket launch from Elon Musk’s SpaceX costs about $67 million, similar to the entire Chandrayaan-3 project.
Learning from Mistakes
Despite of the tight budget, India managed to land on the moon after two failed tries, whereas the USSR failed 5 times with its Lunar-1, only gaining partial success in one mission before successfully landing the Lunar-2 on the moon in 1959. The US, on the other hand, failed 15 times before successfully landing Ranger 7 in 1964.
Vikram Rover
The life of Vikram and Pragyan rover on the mission is for one lunar night, or 14 earth days, as they are equipped with solar panels.
Slingshot Rocket
Instead of using very powerful rockets, ISRO used a slingshot launch where the probe orbited Earth several times to gain speed. This resulted in Chandrayaan-3 taking more time to hit orbit than Apollo 11 did in 1969.
