Chandrayaan-3 live: Indian space agency achieves historic Moon mission landing

India’s space agency Isro has achieved the unprecedented soft landing of a probe on the Moon’s uncharted south pole.

The mission’s Vikram lander began hurtling towards the lunar surface as planned, travelling at about 1.68km per second, and fired its engines to successfully align the probe vertically to the Moon’s surface.

The space agency‘s teams were awaiting the arrival of the mission’s Lander Module (LM) at its designated point around 5.44pm local time (1.14pm BST) to initate the landing sequence.

The live telecast of the module’s descent phase bagan at 5.20pm Indian time.

Until now, no other country has achieved a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole, which is known to contain traces of water ice in its shadowed craters.

The module then made a soft landing as planned on the lunar south pole at about 6.02pm local time (12.34pm GMT/UTC).

“India is now on the Moon,” said Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, who addressed Isro staff members immediately after the landing.

Key Points

• What to expect from Chandrayaan-3 mission

• How to watch India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing

• Challenge ahead as India attempts historic landing on Moon

• Live coverage of India’s Moon landing attempt begins

• Chandrayaan-3 mission’s blueprint for crucial moments before landing

India successfully lands near Moon’s uncharted south pole

13:41 , Vishwam Sankaran

India’s space agency Isro becomes the first in the world to successfully land near the lunar South Pole.

“India is now on the Moon,” said Narendra Modi, who addressed Isro staff members immediately after the landing was announced.

The Moon’s south pole is expected to become a key and contested region in the years to come with research showing it has pockets of water ice that could allow humans to live on the lunar surface.

The mission is set to conduct science experiments on the lunar surface using its various instruments, including a probe to measure the Moon’s surface thermal properties, called the Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), and one dubbed ILSA for measuring lunar seismic activity.

Chandrayaan-3 is also expected to bring more investment to India’s space startups and institutes.

More on the successful mission here.

Chandrayaan-3 mission’s blueprint for crucial moments before landing

13:18 , Vishwam Sankaran

The Indian space agency has revealed in its live broadcast, the automatic maneuvers the Chandrayaan-3 mission would be performing in the crucial moments leading to its landing.

Isro tweeted that teams are awaiting the arrival of the mission’s Lander Module (LM) at its designated point around 5.44pm local time (1.14pm BST) to initiate the landing sequence.

In the nearly 1,100 seconds before landing, the LM would initiate its powered descent, following a rough breaking phase initially for about 700s, and then an altitude holding phase and a fine breaking phase.

Then in the lander module’s key terminal descent phase, about 1300m above the Moon, it would fire all its engines to vertically align the lander to the Moon’s surface.

Live coverage of India’s Moon landing attempt begins

13:01 , Vishwam Sankaran

India’s space agency Isro has begun live coverage of the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s attempt to land on the Moon.The mission, if successful, would make India the first in history to touch down on the south pole of the moon, and will make it the fourth country in the world to achieve a soft landing on Earth‘s satellite.

Though countries such as the US and China have successfully landed probes near the Moon’s equator, none have successfully conducted missions to its south pole.

Isro’s teams are awaiting the arrival of the mission’s Lander Module (LM) at its designated point around 5.44pm local time (1.14pm BST) to initiate the landing sequence, the agency noted in a tweet.

Watch The Independent’s coverage of the lunar landing here.

Images taken so far by Chandrayaan-3 mission

12:39 , Vishwam Sankaran

Isro shared the first images taken by the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on 7 August just as it successfully entered lunar orbit, carrying the mission’s “Vikram” lander and “Pragayan” rover.

These images taken after the spacecraft spent about 10 days orbiting Earth, revealed in detail the craters on the Moon, appearing larger as the spacecraft got closer to the lunar surface.

Then on Monday, the Indian space agency revealed many more close-up photos of the lunar surface taken by Vikram’s Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC).

The camera, according to Isro, helps assist in finding a safe landing area on the Moon’s South Pole without boulders or deep trenches during the challenging descent.

What India’s previous Chandrayaan missions found

12:21 , Vishwam Sankaran

India’s previous Moon missions Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008, and its successor in 2019, have made significant discoveries, shedding more light on the Moon’s geology and successfully demonstrating new technology.

Chandrayaan-1 was an orbiting mission, which circled around the Moon at a height of about 100km, and conducted chemical and mineralogical mapping of the lunar surface.

Making over 3,400 trips around the moon, the orbiter helped find deposits of frozen water in the Moon’s polar regions, which have paved the way for India’s succeeding missions to the lunar surface.

Data from instruments aboard Chandrayaan-1 helped create the first map of ice water trapped in lunar soil, and has also aided in publishing scientific studies on the prevalence of hydroxyl, an ion made of hydrogen and oxygen, on the Moon.

Chandrayaan-2 attempted to demonstrate soft landing capabilities on the Moon as well as rover maneuvering on the lunar surface.

How Nasa and ESA are helping India's Chandrayaan-3 mission

11:48 , Vishwam Sankaran

Isro is collaborating with space agencies Nasa and ESA as part of the international antenna network to continuously track Chandrayaan-3.

Tracking stations in different parts of the world are tuned in to help safely guide the mission towards the Moon.

“All systems Green at ESA for today’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing attempt,” the European Space Agency’s Operation Centre noted in a tweet.

ESA said it would support the lander “during the entire phase of lunar surface operations, helping to ensure that science data acquired by the rover arrives safely with Isro in India.”

Nasa’s Deep Space Network, consisting of an array of giant radio antennas across the world, has also been providing tracking coverage and telemetry assistance for the mission.

What to expect from Chandrayaan-3 mission

11:34 , Vishwam Sankaran

The main aim of Chandrayaan-3 is to put a lander and rover in the highlands near the Moon’s south pole, an uncharted lunar territory known to contain pockets of water ice.

Isro aims to make a number of scientific studies of the Moon’s south pole from the surface and from orbit as part of the latest mission.

The mission’s Vikram lander carries an instrument called Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the Moon’s surface thermal properties and an instrument for measuring lunar seismic activity (ILSA).

It also carries the Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere (RAMBHA) instrument to study the Moon’s gas and plasma environment, and a laser device for lunar ranging studies.

You can read more about the mission’s goals here.

What to expect from India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon’s south pole

How to watch India's Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing

11:08 , Vishwam Sankaran

The live telecast of the Chandrayaan-3 Moon landing event will begin at 5.20pm on India Standard Time (11.50am GMT/UTC) on Wednesday, the country’s space agency Isro noted.

The mission’s Vikram lander is expected to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole at about 6.04pm local time (12.34pm GMT/UTC).

“The live coverage will be available via multiple platforms, including the Isro Website, YouTube, Isro’s Facebook page,” Isro said in a statement.

If the mission’s Pragyan rover manages to find water ice on the lunar surface it could set historic precedent that may spur nations to extract fuel and oxygen from the Moon.

You can read more on this here.

How to watch historic Indian Chandrayaan-3 mission to land probe on Moon’s south pole

Challenge ahead as India attempts historic landing on Moon

10:43 , Vishwam Sankaran

No country has managed a soft landing on the Moon’s south pole until now.

During India’s previous attempt to do so in 2019, the Chandrayaan-2 mission lander diverged from its intended path and lost communication with the Indian space agency a mile-and-a-half above the Moon’s surface.

In the crucial last moments of landing, known as the “20 minutes of terror,” the mission’s lander will start hurtling towards the lunar surface at about 1.68km per second.

The lander will have to slow down by firing all its engines to align vertically to the Moon’s surface.

It was during this final phase that the Chandrayaan-2 mission tumbled and crashed onto the Moon.

Isro chairman S Somnath told local media that “all preparations” have been done for the current mission, and “all systems have performed as we needed them to until this stage”.