New Delhi- Excitement rose in India on Tuesday on the eve of a much-anticipated moon landing, with prayers held for its success, schools marshalling students to watch a live telecast of the event and space enthusiasts organising parties to celebrate.
The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole at 1234 GMT on Wednesday, days after the failure of a Russian vehicle trying to achieve the same feat.
Success for Chandrayaan-3 will make it the first to land on the lunar south pole, a region whose shadowed craters are thought to contain water ice that could support a future moon settlement.
India’s second attempt to land on the moon after a failure in 2019 is being seen as a display of the tenacity of its scientific institutions.
Authorities and educators also hope it will encourage scientific inquiry among millions of students in the world’s most populous country.
Students have sent scores of messages wishing ISRO luck for a successful landing, the agency said.
The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered all schools to hold special screenings as “landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 is a memorable opportunity, which will not only encourage curiosity, but will also instill passion in our youth towards inquiry”.
In Gujarat, the Science and Technology Council has invited over 2,000 school students “to witness the historic moment” on a large screen, its head Narottam Sahoo said.
The council has also organised talks by ISRO scientists. The event will be shown live across Gujarat’s 33 district community science centres.
The state culture ministry in Kolkata is throwing a “Science Party” to celebrate the mission, asking people to “embark on exhilarating educational adventure” with a live telecast.
Prayer ceremonies were organised on Tuesday in Mumbai and Varanasi for the success of the mission.
Srikant Chunduri, an entrepreneur and founder of a group of space enthusiasts called “Agnirva”, said he has arranged a “watch party” for the landing at a popular Bengaluru restaurant.
“If we want to build a community for space enthusiasts, (there is) nothing more momentous than this landing to get people together,” he told Reuters.
ISRO has been sharing regular updates of the mission through posts on X, formerly Twitter.
“The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing,” it said on Tuesday.
“The Mission Operations Complex (MOX) is buzzed with energy & excitement!”
Live on TV
The Chandrayaan-3 landing will be broadcast live on DD National TV and several other news channels. The event will also be live-streamed on ISRO’s official website at isro.gov.in. The live streaming of the event will also be available on ISRO’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
If the Chandrayaan-3 mission succeeds in making a touchdown on moon and in landing a robotic lunar rover in ISRO’s second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the lunar surface after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.
17 Minutes of terror
A day before the scheduled touch-down, ISRO on Tuesday confirmed that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is on schedule.
The space agency said the Mission Operations Complex (MOX), located at the ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) here, is buzzing with energy and excitement.
“The mission is on schedule. Systems are undergoing regular checks. Smooth sailing is continuing,” ISRO said in an update this afternoon, adding that the live telecast of the landing operations at MOX/ISTRAC begins at 5:20 pm on Wednesday.
ISRO’s Space Applications Centre Director Nilesh Desai said, “If any health parameter (of the lander module) is found abnormal on August 23, then we will delay the landing by four days to August 27.”
The critical process of soft-landing has been dubbed by many including ISRO officials as “17 minutes of terror”, with the entire process being autonomous when the lander has to fire its engines at the right times and altitudes, use the right amount of fuel, and scan the lunar surface for any obstacles or hills or craters before finally touching down.
After checking all the parameters and deciding to land, ISRO will upload all the required commands from its Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu near here, to the LM, a couple of hours before the scheduled time touchdown.
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