Chandrayaan-3 — near the south pole

2023: India reaches the Moon's south first

In August 2023 India's Chandrayaan-3 landed closer to the Moon's south pole than anyone before! Near the pole there are deep craters where the Sun never shines, and ice hides inside them. One day astronauts could make water and fuel from that ice. The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover worked for 2 weeks.

Chandrayaan-3 landed on 23 August 2023 at 69° south — the southernmost landing at the time; India became the 4th country to soft-land (after the USSR, USA and China). Russia's Luna 25 had crashed in the same region 4 days earlier. The Vikram lander measured soil temperature (50 °C at the surface, −10 °C at 8 cm depth); the Pragyan rover (26 kg) drove 100 m and detected sulphur. The mission ended with the lunar day (14 Earth days). Why the south pole matters: water ice in permanently shadowed craters (Shackleton, Shoemaker); NASA's Artemis III and China plan crewed landings in this very region in the 2030s.

Fun facts

• Chandrayaan-3's entire budget was $75 million — cheaper than many Hollywood films.
• The floors of polar craters are −240 °C — among the coldest places in the Solar System.
• A day on the Moon lasts 14 Earth days, and so does the night.