:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mentormedier/VFW5XYKSEWQPOKZ4U53COPSBTY.jpg "Successful landing for India’s lunar probe – the first to land at the South Pole – Dagsavisen")
The space superpowers US and Russia may be left behind in the hunt for moon ice. The Russians failed over the weekend, when their Luna-25 crashed onto the lunar surface.
The Indian plane landed on the south pole of the moon as planned. It was the first time a successful landing had been made at the South Pole which is full of mountains and deep craters, making landing there extremely difficult.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi followed the landing attempt via video from South Africa, where he was attending a Brics summit.
India’s attempt failed in 2019. The country has big ambitions in space and uses less expensive technology meaning the journey from Earth to the moon takes slightly longer than, for example, a NASA rocket.
The aim of the expedition was to explore the South Pole, where it was hoped that humanity’s first permanent base on the moon could be established. If there is water ice in the deep crater, it could also be a springboard for further expeditions into space.
The moon landings are getting a lot of attention in India.
– India grabbed the moon, making headlines in the Times of India on Wednesday.
Chandrayaan means moon plane in Sanskrit. The landing craft itself is named Vikram which means courage. The plan is for lunar rovers to explore the surface and transmit information back to Earth.
[ Lokal LO-leder mener regjeringens Melkøya-vedtak er «idioti» ]
“Music maven. Evil pop culture lover. Unapologetic creator. Friend of animals everywhere.”
