Chandrayaan-3: India & Japan to aim for lunar base in 2025
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, August 23: The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 in the south pole of Moon has given a major boost to the joint project of India and Japan to set up a lunar base in 2025. The two countries will be jointly launching LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration Mission) in 2025.
The planned Indo-Japan mission affirms Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement made to the scientists of the ISRO that India will be sharing its success in landing a mission on Moon with other countries. Incidentally, India and Japan mission will also aim to land the lander in the south pole where a moon base will be set up to launch a deeper lunar exploration, including ice and water and other minerals.
India has become the first country to land a mission in the south pole, which is reckoned as the most hostile for any space mission. India’s Vikram Lander had crash landed as part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission because of the extreme conditions of the south pole of Moon.
But by the time the message “India, I’ve reached my destination and you too” was delivered, India had exhibited perfection in soft-landing Chandrayaan-3 on Moon. India on Wednesday became the fourth country to land a mission on Moon after Russia, the US and China.
While the Russian mission to land on Moon crashed a few days ago, China is aggressively spearheading its space mission with focus on Moon. There is also a concern that China has taken a lead in its Moon mission. But with Chandrayaan-3 successfully landing in the south pole and the mission with Japan only two years away, India is likely to make up for the lost time to assert its scientific prowess in exploring the space.
India will also be embarking on manned-mission Gananyaan, as the country aims to send three astronauts onto Moon. ISRO has not yet unveiled the timeline for the mission. But the mission will follow only after ISRO demonstrates all the safety features of landing on Moon.
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