Context

• The Government of India is set to celebrate the first National Space Day 2024 (August 23).
• On this day last year, Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished the safe and soft landing of Vikram Lander on the lunar surface.

About Chandrayaan 3 Mission

• Last year, India made history as its Chandrayaan-3 mission became the first to land in the lunar south pole region.
• ISRO confirmed that the Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3 successfully touched down in the Moon’s southern polar region as planned.
• The lander module of Chandrayaan-3 comprises Vikram lander and Rover Pragyan. The six-wheeled lander and rover module is configured with payloads that would provide data to the scientific community on the properties of lunar soil and rocks, including chemical and elemental compositions. 
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• With this, India joined an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China
• Soft landing simply means landing at a gentle, controlled speed to not sustain damage to a spacecraft. 

• Doing so showcases a spacecraft’s technical capabilities. All of the previous spacecraft to the Moon have landed in the region near the Moon’s equator, firstly because it is easier and safer here. The terrain and temperature are more conducive for a long and sustained operation of instruments. 
• The polar regions of the Moon, however, are different. Many parts lie in a completely dark region without sunlight, and temperatures can go below 230 degrees Celsius. This creates difficulty in the operation of instruments. 

What happened?

• ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-3 mission onboard LVM3-M4 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre to achieve India’s first soft landing on another celestial body.
• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2. 
• The mission’s three objectives were to 
  • demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, 
  • to demonstrate a Rover roving on the Moon and 
  • to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
• Notably, Chandrayaan-2 which also attempted to soft-land in this region in 2019, was unsuccessful – its lander and rover were destroyed, though its orbiter survived.

Why did Chandrayaan 3 choose to land on the Lunar south pole?

• Lunar south pole as a landing site is mainly driven by the fact that the region hosts water in the form of ice. 
• Water on the moon is of pure scientific value. It can be used as a record of geological activity on the moon, such as lunar volcanoes, and even act as an asteroid strike tracker.
• While water has been detected across the surface of the moon, the majority of water ice signals come from the poles.

Why is the lunar south pole important?

• At the moon’s south pole, sunlight strikes at a different angle, casting long shadows over the lunar craters. Some of these craters are permanently shadowed, with sunlight never reaching the bottom, and could therefore have ancient pockets of ice hidden for billions of years.
• Previously, lunar orbiters — including India’s previous two Moon orbiters (Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2) — have detected hydroxyl (OH) and water traces on the Moon.
• Water in long-term space exploration is a critical resource, synonymous to striking gold in space. This makes the south pole a strategic spot, as lunar water could provide fuel, oxygen and drinking water, making it a potential site for lunar mining and even future human settlements.