And that's it: Indians are better than Russians. Three days after the failure of Luna-25, a probe that crashed on the surface of our natural satellite, the Chandrayaan-3 mission in turn attempted a soft moon landing this Wednesday, August 23, and everything went well until the last second. India has just joined a select group of countries capable of touching the lunar surface without exploding into pieces. Only three space powers have successfully completed this exercise to date: the Soviet Union, then the United States in 1966, and China in 2013.

Good start and radio silence

This is not the first time India has attempted to achieve a historic moon landing. The first mission, Chandrayaan-1, took off in 2008 to practice leaving Earth's gravity and entering orbit around our satellite. The probe has spent ten months circling the Moon to map it, and released an “impactor” that will fall on its surface to practice targeting. That's a good start. Then all that's left is knowing how to organize the arrival smoothly, and that's a very different thing.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission, launched on July 22, 2019, was separated into two spacecraft: an orbiter that remained circling the Moon, while the lander “Vikram” descended to the surface, slowly… 2 km from the ground, it delivered its enormous mission. last news to Earth, and we never heard from it again. We have to accept the fact that Vikram has hit the surface too hard to survive. We call it failure, and failure.

But the Indian space agency – Isro – wants to try the exercise again soon. Exactly the same as its predecessor model, the Chandrayaan-3 mission took off this summer, on July 14.

Enter lunar orbit

The 6 billion rupee (67 million euro) mission follows a long, fuel-efficient trajectory to the Moon, first passing through Earth's orbit while checking that all the probe's instruments are working OK. Then Chandrayaan-3 was gradually moved to our satellite. Isro announced on August 6 that its probe had correctly entered lunar orbit, publishing several photos of the star visible to its cameras. Chandrayaan-3 is in a circular orbit about 100 kilometers above the lunar surface.

On August 17, the Vikram lander separated from the propulsion module that brought it here. Then he positioned himself above his landing site near the South Pole. The location was chosen because of its strategic importance: at the South Pole of the Moon, a large amount of water is hidden in the form of ice in a crater that is always shaded. This water could later be used by astronaut crews who will set up work bases on the Moon, or even as raw material to install some kind of rocket refueling station on their way to Mars.

A cruiser full of instruments

Vikram landed this Wednesday, August 23 at 14:34 Paris time, exactly as planned. He continued to send his news to the ground control center throughout the descent: altitude 300 meters, then 150, then 30, 25, 12… And no loss of contact was recorded, a sign that the lander was still functioning remotely. surface.

Now they have to deploy a small rover, named Pragyan. Vikram and Pragyan are equipped with scientific instruments to study the lunar environment. Their life expectancy is fourteen Earth days, or one lunar day: when the Sun sets on the Moon, the temperature becomes very cold (about -200°C) and it is difficult for electronic instruments to survive there.

India's solar system exploration program is quite ambitious for the coming years. Starting in early September, the Aditya L1 mission must depart and observe the Sun closely. The Shukrayaan-1 probe will reach Venus' orbit next year, while the Mangalyaan-2 mission will reach Mars' orbit. 2024 should also be the year of India's first manned flight, with a crew of three astronauts who will spend a short time in low Earth orbit (around 400 kilometers above sea level).

Updated at 2:40 p.m. with the moon landing.