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Besides a Cricket World Cup final win over Pakistan, it’s difficult to envisage anything generating more excitement in India than its historic moon mission.
In what would be a landmark achievement for not just the country’s space programme, but humanity’s efforts to explore the cosmos, Chandrayaan-3 will attempt to land on the lunar south pole.
The spacecraft’s looking to land at 1.34pm UK time – and you can watch it live on the Sky News website, app, and YouTube channel.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why does landing on the south pole matter?
Only three nations – the US, China, and Soviet Union – have ever touched down on Earth’s satellite, though none have successfully made it to the dark side.
The difficulty of doing so was made clear over the weekend when a Russian craft crashed during its own bid, meaning the door remained open for India to set a new bar for moon exploration.
It’s thought the south pole’s shadowed craters contain water ice that could support a future base on the moon, allowing astronauts and scientists to work there for extended periods.
Space agencies including NASA have detected frozen water in the moon’s south pole craters before, but no country has ever actually ventured into the region.
If water ice is really there, it could be used for fuel, oxygen, and drinking water; and provide insight into past lunar volcanoes and the origins of our own oceans.
Why has nobody done it before?
As the failed Russian mission proved, it’s extremely difficult.
India knows only too well, with Chandrayaan-3’s forerunner (you guessed it, Chandrayaan-2) having crashed near its proposed landing site in 2019.
It managed to deploy an orbiter, but the lander and rover meant to actually reach the surface were destroyed.
The south pole is a long way from the region of the moon targeted by most previous missions, including the crewed Apollo…
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