ISRO’s Moonshot: India’s Chandrayaan-3 Successfully Lands on the Moon

At 14:34 CEST on August 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module on the surface of the Moon. Credit: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module on the surface of the Moon.

Mission Timeline

Chandrayaan-3 launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota Range (SDSC SHAR), India, on July 14, 2023, on a mission to demonstrate new technologies and to achieve India’s first soft landing on another celestial body.

The spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit on August 5. On August 17, the lander module separated from the propulsion module and soon after began its descent to the surface.

On August 23, after a nail-biting wait, ISRO confirmed that Chandrayaan-3’s lander had successfully touched down in the Moon’s southern polar region as planned.

Moments Before the Landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the Lunar Surface

India’s Chandrayaan-3 has successfully landed on the Moon. This screen, from the ISRO landing livestream, depicts telemetry from the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module moments before landing in the Moon’s southern polar region. Credit: ISRO

“Congratulations ISRO on this historic landing. ESA is proud to support the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Our ground stations are a core element of ESA’s support to its international partners, and I am pleased that with this activity, we are further strengthening ESA’s relationship with ISRO and with India. I look forward to supporting further pioneering ISRO missions, such as Aditya-L1, in the future,” says Rolf Densing, Director of Operations at ESA’s ESOC mission operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.

ESA’s Support Role

The European Space Agency (ESA) is providing deep space communication support to the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

Communication is an essential part of every space mission. Ground stations on Earth keep operators connected to spacecraft as they venture into the unknown. Without ground station support, it’s impossible to get any data from a spacecraft, to know how it’s doing, to know if it is safe or even to know where it is.

ESA Supports ISRO's Chandrayaan Moon Mission

In addition to ISRO’s own deep space communication antenna, the Chandrayaan-3 mission will rely on support from ground stations around the world, coordinated by ESA and NASA. Credit: ESA

For the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ESA is coordinating routine support from its Kourou station in French Guiana and from Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd in the UK. These stations complement support from NASA’s Deep Space Network and ISRO’s own stations.

ESA’s 35-meter antenna in New Norcia, Australia, provided additional tracking support during the lunar landing, serving as a backup for ISRO’s own ground station.

New Norcia received the stream of vital signs from the Chandrayaan-3 lander – information about its health, location, and trajectory – in parallel with the ISRO station. This type of backup support is common during key moments of a space mission such as a landing.

It was this stream of telemetry that was ultimately used to confirm the success of the landing.

ESA’s New Norcia Ground Station Tracks Chandrayaan-3 on Landing Day

ESA’s 35-meter antenna in New Norcia, Australia, tracks the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module during the morning before its lunar descent. The station served as a backup for ISRO’s own ground station, receiving the stream of vital signs from the Chandrayaan-3 lander – information about its health, location, and trajectory – in parallel with the ISRO station. This type of backup support is common during key moments of a space mission such as a landing. Credit: ESA

ESA’s Commitment to Deep Space Support

Many national space agencies operate deep space tracking stations that enable them to locate, track, command, and receive telemetry and scientific data from their distant spacecraft.

But sometimes, particularly for deep space missions, operators need to track or command a spacecraft when it is outside the field of view of their own antennas, or to have a second ‘pair of eyes’ on their spacecraft during crucial moments.

Thanks to its global ‘Estrack’ network of ground stations, ESA can help its partners track, command, and receive data from spacecraft almost anywhere in the Solar System via its ESOC mission operations center in Darmstadt, Germany.

The Estrack network consists of ESA’s own ground stations, located across the globe, and ESA-coordinated support from third-party stations such as Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd.

ESA’s tracking station network – Estrack – is a global system of ground stations providing links between satellites in orbit and ESA’s ESOC mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany. The core Estrack network comprises seven stations in seven countries. Credit: ESA

What’s Next for Chandrayaan-3?

On August 24, the lander deployed its rover, successfully driving down the ramp and “walking” on the Moon. During its mission on the surface, which will last for one lunar day (14 days on Earth), the rover will carry out a number of scientific experiments.

ESA stations will continue to relay telemetry and scientific data gathered by the mission’s rover and lander module until the end of the surface operations.