Chandrayaan -3's Vikram Lander successfully lands on the lunar surface, India becomes the first country to reach the southern pole of the moon

India has created history in astronomical field as it became the first country to land on the Southern Pole of the lunar surface. The scientists left zero margin for any error, the Vikram LMV, was equipped to follow a failure based algorithm to avoid the slightest of risks and miscalculations, unlike its previous attempt. “We have become the first country to go near the South Pole of the Moon,” said P Veeramuthuvel, Project Director of Chandrayaan-3 Mission.

India has also become the fourth country to successfully conduct a soft-landing on the Moon, following Russia, US and China landing on the North Pole of the celestial body. In the recent past, Russia too attempted to send their lunar mission, Luna-25 to the Moon’s South Pole but their Lander had crashed.

One of the key aims of the Chandrayaan 3's mission is to collect data from the moon that will in turn serve as an impetus for future missions. The Lander with the Rover 'Pragyan' in its belly has a stipulated period of only 14 days for research work. The reason behind this is that the duration of one day on the moon is equal to 14 days on the earth. The Lander and the Rover are both solar-powered which allows them to collect data in the light of day.

The landers is equipped with devices that will accurately collect data from the moon’s surface, data pertaining to the lunar atmosphere, water, and mineral information, and send it back to the Earth.  The 3 payloads on the Lander will detect the crust and mantle structures of the moon. It will also collect information about the density and temperature, as well as whether earthquakes strike the moon or not.

The last leg of the landing was called the ‘20 minutes of terror’ by many of the scientific community, during which, ISRO to  initiated the Automatic Landing Sequence. This enabled Vikram LM to take charge and use its on-board computers and transmitters to identify a favorable spot and make a soft-landing on the lunar surface.

‘India will remember this day forever’, PM Modi said, congratulating the scientists and the entire fraternity of ISRO. "Humne dharti par sankalp kiya aur chand pe usse sakaar kiya (we conceptualized this project on earth, and it has been driven to fruition on the moon) India is now on the Moon”, he added.

Lauding the efforts of the entire team that tirelessly worked for the success of the lunar mission Chandrayaan- 3, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, S.Somanath said, “This is not the work of one person, but an entire team that has worked tirelessly. This is the work of a generation. All the teams that worked in Chandrayaan 1 and 2 should also be remembered.”

Experts say that the final 15 to 20 minutes were highly crucial for the success of the mission when Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander descended down to its soft landing. India's second lunar mission had failed during the last 20 minutes before landing which led ISRO to take extra precaution and planning this time.