India launches world's first mission to lunar south pole; will become fourth country ever to achieve a soft landing on the moon's surface

[Deleted member 249]

India has successfully launched a mission to soft land a rover on the moon, in a landmark moment for a nation trying to become a space superpower.

The country's latest lunar mission, Chandrayaan-2, which means "moon vehicle" in Sanskrit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh state at 2:43 p.m., Monday local time (5:13 am ET).

The launch was originally scheduled for July 15, but was abruptly called off just 56 minutes before lift-off due to a "technical snag." India is now on the way to becoming the fourth country -- in addition to United States, China and the former Soviet Union -- to make a soft-landing on the lunar surface.

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SOURCE

Incredibly surprised there is no thread on such a notable story on here, though Era does tend to skew anglo-centric to the exclusion of almost everything else.

Anyway, it's a pretty great achievement. Now to see how far India can follow through on its space ambitions.

 

[Anustart]

They're catching up to a science victory.

 

[chandoog]

I'm happy for India and wish them all the success.


But I have one question


How are you still posting with that user requested ban tag :o

 

[Nooblet]

In before "But there are poor people/social issues and you spending money to send stuff to space" comments.
ISRO is basically pretty much one of the only legit player in space game out there, alongside NASA, ESA, CNSA, Roscosmos and SpaceX

 

[Pancracio17]

Space!
I wonder what they are looking for in the south pole.

 

[Kolx]

I didn't know China also landed on the moon. Interesting.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

How are you still posting with that user requested ban tag :o

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They are manually removed when user-requested bans expire. Sometimes members get back to posting before we notice.

Now look here, please.

 

[LL_Decitrig]

Space!
I wonder what they are looking for in the south pole.

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Water close to the surface. Further mapping and geological surveying of an area that hasn't yet been extensively covered. Scouting for a possible future lunar space station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program

 

[Forerunner]

Space!
I wonder what they are looking for in the south pole.

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There is evidence of water at the south pole. The US Artemis mission also plans on going to the south pole in 2024.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Very exciting news for India and glad to hear every precaution was taken with the launch. Spaceflight is not easy and many attempts have ended in tragedy. Even though this is just a rover that's a lot of effort and resources that could be lost. Glad to hear they scrapped the first launch and delayed it as necessary.

Let's hope it comes back successful!

 

[Deleted member 249]

They are manually removed when user-requested bans expire. Sometimes members get back to posting before we notice.

Now look here, please.

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I demand you return my tag to me!

 

[Chopchop]

Awesome. Hope the mission goes well.

 

[Pancracio17]

Water close to the surface. Further mapping and geological surveying of an area that hasn't yet been extensively covered. Scouting for a possible future lunar space station.

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Makes sense, about as much as you can do with a Rover on the moon nowadays. I hope someone gets going with that lunar base plan soon though.

 

[LL_Decitrig]

Makes sense, about as much as you can do with a Rover on the moon nowadays. I hope someone gets going with that lunar base plan soon though.

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Good news: it's a priority of the current administration.
Bad news: it's a priority of the current administration.

Good news: NASA is set to provide the launch vehicle.
Bad news: That launch vehicle is SLS.

 

[Forerunner]

Makes sense, about as much as you can do with a Rover on the moon nowadays. I hope someone gets going with that lunar base plan soon though.

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That's what the Artemis program is starting. A space station around the moon and to allow astronauts to live on the moon for weeks at a time. The first stepping stones for an actual outpost.

 

[GK86]

Congrats, India! I look forward to watching this over the next few weeks and years to come.

 

[dmann]

Hopefully they have better luck than Israel's attempt at a lunar landing.

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

Looks like they lost it about 1KM from the surface.

 

[Commedieu]

fuck.

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

noo :(

 

[Bleu]

same thing happened with the israeli one, landing seems hard.

 

[Commedieu]

sounds like theres still hope..

Cmon india!

 

[Sign My Guestbook!]

it must be. which makes the actual moon landings that took place decades ago border on divine miracles

 

[8byte]

This stinks :(

Thank goodness it was an unmanned mission.

 

[Commedieu]

also, its not confirmed that its "crashed"

They're still waiting for a signal.

https://youtu.be/CcJwjuo8pBo

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

"The landers assent was as planned and nominal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1KM. Subsequently the communication from the lander to the ground station was lost. The data is being analyzed. "

 

[Orion117]

Gutted. Was watching the live stream and saw the lander do summersaults on the tracker and knew something was up. On to Chandrayaan 3 now i guess.

 

[Commedieu]

op jinxed this.

 

[Mivey]

Well, it's as they say: Chandrayaan-3rd time's a charm

 

[Kyuuji]

That's a shame, but glad they're persisting.

 

[AegonSnake]

man two months to get there and boom, down just a KM away from surface.

 

[Commedieu]

Well, it's as they say: Chandrayaan-3rd time's a charm

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I mean space is hard. They're doing it all on their own, and aren't hiring Nazi scientists to help them out.

 

[Mivey]

I mean space is hard. They're doing it all on their own, and aren't hiring Nazi scientists to help them out.

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That's the problem, can't go to space without a few Nazi scientists.

 

[Commedieu]

That's the problem, can't go to space without a few Nazi scientists.

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Damn...

 

[Tempy]

Shame :|

 

[thesoapster]

I mean space is hard. They're doing it all on their own, and aren't hiring Nazi scientists to help them out.

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And it's not like we didn't have a variety of fuckups even with their help.

 

[Jmdajr]

Oh man... it wasn't successful???

 

[Ravensmash]

Damn :(

 

[Bregor]

I hope they keep trying.

 

[Cation]

I demand you return my tag to me!

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Im so confused, are you still banned? Or is that also part of your tag when you are actually banned that the mod above was talking about?