India's low-cost space missions, Mangalyaan ($74 mn) and Chandrayaan-3 ($75 mn), starkly contrast with Hollywood's $100m Gravity and costlier Nasa and Russian counterparts
The South Pole region is the first choice for the landing of Chandrayaan-4 as it has an abundance of water ice. Scientists suspect that the ice can be mined for life support and rocket fuel
Isro's ambitions have grown along with its successes. Alongside Chandrayaan-4, the Cabinet also cleared a Venus orbital mission, which will be even more challenging
Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 landed within a buried impact crater, which is around 160 km in size and approximately 4.4 km deep, and likely to be older than the South Pole Atkin (SPA) basin, according to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). This is revealed based on analysis of images obtained by navigation cameras on Chandrayaan-3 Pragyan rover and Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter's optical high resolution camera, according to scientists from Physical Research Laboratory and ISRO, who published their study in peer-reviewed journal 'Icarus'. The Chandrayaan-3 mission with the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover landed in the high latitude highland region near the south pole of the Moon, an ISRO statement noted. The landing site is located approximately 350 km from the SPA basin rim, an ancient and the largest impact basin in the Solar System. This landing site has undergone the complex emplacement sequence of SPA basin ejecta followed by the nearby and distant impact basins and ..
India's lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 possibly landed in one of the oldest craters of the Moon, according to scientists who analysed images from the mission and satellites. The crater was formed during the Nectarian period, which dates back to 3.85 billion years and is one of the oldest time periods in the Moon's history, the team, including researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, said. S Vijayan, an associate professor in the Planetary Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, told PTI, "Chandrayaan-3 landing site is a unique geological setting where no other missions have gone. The images from the mission's Pragyan rover are the first on-site ones of the Moon at this latitude. They reveal how the Moon evolved over time". A crater is formed when an asteroid crashes into the surface of a larger body like a planet or a Moon, and the displaced material is called 'ejecta'. Revealing how the Moon evolved over time
Chandrayaan-3 mission discovered a 160-km-wide crater on the Moon's South Pole, revealing key details about lunar geological history. The crater was discovered by the Pragyan rover
Moon mission Chandrayaan-4 will cost Rs 2104.06 cr while Rs 1,236 crore has been earmarked for Venus Orbiter Mission
For fledgling space organisations in the Global South, Chandrayaan-3's success is a landmark achievement, rivalling China's Chang'e 4 mission, which uniquely landed on the moon's far side
India is celebrating its first-ever National Space Day to mark the anniversary of the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 mission.Senior ISRO scientists shared their experiences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly during the Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3 missions.B N Ramakrishna, Director, ISRO Telemetry, Tracking & Command Network (ISTRAC) told ANI, "Chandrayaan-2 was another big mission, which we were all aiming to land, soft landing at the moon (on) South pole. So that time when Modiji had come... we had made a lot of arrangements at...The most important point, I would like to bring here is he wanted to spread the scientific knowledge to the younger generation."He recalled they had arranged for two or three children from each state to witness this landing event."So we had arranged the children from all over the India. I think from each state there were two or three students who had come to ISTRAC Bengaluru to watch this landing event... We had made good ...
As the country celebrated its first ever National Space Day commemorating the soft landing of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface on Friday, Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy recalled the contributions of four Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) in making India's lunar mission a success. The union minister said these CPSEs under his ministry had proudly contributed to achieving the milestone. "Four CPSEs under MHIInstrumentation Ltd. (IL), FCRI, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), and Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)supplied essential products that were integral to the success of Chandrayaan-3," Kumaraswamy said in a post on 'X'. He also said that the National Space Day celebration is a testament to the dedication and hard work of ISRO's scientists and engineers, and the collaborative efforts of our nation's industries. On this day a year ago, India achieved a major feat in its Space programme when its Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the .
Latest Chandrayaan-3 data, as reported by Isro, has confirmed the theory that states that the lunar surface was once covered by an ocean of magma
India to celebrate its maiden National Space Day tomorrow, August 23, 2023, marking the one-year anniversary of the historic success of Chandrayaan-3 mission
Data from ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission supports the theory that the Moon was once covered in an ocean of magma, or a 'magma ocean', an analysis, published in the journal Nature, has suggested. The analysis pertained to measurements of the lunar soil, recorded by the Pragyan rover and taken at multiple points along a 100-metre track on the surface. The rover was deployed by the Vikram lander, which made a soft landing near the south pole of the Moon on August 23, 2023. Chandrayaan-3, consisting of the lander and rover, was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Bengaluru. The study's authors, including those from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, said that previous missions, such as NASA's Apollo and the Soviet Union's Luna, have mainly relied on samples of soil taken from equitorial and mid-latitude regions of the Moon, respectively. Analysing Pragyan's data, which came from the Moon's south pole, the researchers found that the samples suggested that
Celebrated biochemist Govindarajan Padmanabhan has been selected for first Vigyan Ratna Puraskar, the top most science award instituted by the government this year. The government on Wednesday announced 33 Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskars, which include 18 Vigyan Yuva Puraskars for young scientists and 13 Vigyan Shri Puraskars and a Vigyan Team award that went to Team Chandrayaan-3. Earlier this year, the government had instituted the Rashtriya Vigyan Puraskar recognizing outstanding and inspiring scientific, technological and innovation contributions of researchers, technologists and innovators in the field of science, technology and innovation. The Vigyan Shri awardees are astrophysicist Annapurini Subramanian, agriculture scientist Anandharamakrishnan C, Avesh Kumar Tyagi (Atomic Energy), Prof. Umesh Varshney and Prof. Jayant Bhalchandra Udgaonkar (both in the field of Biological Sciences), Prof. Syed Wajih Ahmad Naqvi (Earth Sciences), Prof. Bhim Singh (Engineering Sciences), Prof. ..
The historic success of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon has captured the attention of several startups to tap the Indian space sector, said former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan. Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries TRB Rajaa said the achievements of space scientists and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) should be celebrated. Rajaa and former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan took part in the launch of space technology accelerator "Vaanam" (Tamil word meaning sky) backed by its co-founders Sameer Bharat Ram and Hariharan Vedamurthy, on Wednesday. The space tech aims to nurture startups in the space sector by offering its expertise including seed fundings among others. "We are evaluating about 6 startups this year (to offer its expertise)", Ram said. According to him, the Indian space economy pegged at USD 13 billion is expected to touch USD 44 billion in 10 years. Ram said Nambi Narayanan and actor Madhavan, who played the role of Narayanan himself, in the multilingua
The lunar soil brought back by China's Chang'e-5 mission in 2020 has led to the discovery of a hydrated mineral containing molecular water
The Chandrayaan-3 mission's Pragyan rover found small rock fragments scattered around the rim, wall slopes, and floor of small craters in the southern high-latitude landing area
National Assembly member Syed Mustafa Kamal brought attention to the lack of educational facilities for children in the country, comparing it to India's achievements
India's Chandrayaan-3 mission team was honoured with the prestigious 2024 John L. 'Jack' Swigert Jr. Award for Space Exploration
Ramesh Kunhikannan is among the 25 Indians who made a debut on the Forbes World's Billionaires list of 2024. His Kaynes Technology had supplied electronic systems for the mission