What does India want to achieve with its Chandrayaan-3 moon mission?

India will achieve a unique milestone in space technology as soon as the Lander lands on the moon's surface. The success of the space mission will have a huge impact on the Indian economy as well

India is all set to create history by executing a soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 Lander on the moon's south pole. As soon as Chandrayaan-3 landing takes place on the moon's surface, which is scheduled to happen today at 6.04 pm IST, India will cement its position as a dominant space power in the world.

India failed in its previous attempt to explore the moon's southern pole with Chandrayaan-2 due to a technical glitch. India is making another daring attempt after four years with Chandrayaan-3. Isro calls its Chandrayaan-2 mission as being ‘partly successful,’ however, a crash landing had dashed the country’s hopes of achieving a controlled landing outside the domain of planet earth.

If Chandrayaan-3 succeeds this time, India will become the fourth country after the United States, the former Soviet Union (now Russia) and China to achieve this unique feat on the moon's surface.

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What will India achieve with the Chandrayaan-3 mission?

No country has landed on the south pole of the moon, and because of this, the region is less explored so far. The US, China, and the USSR have landed on the moon's equatorial region, but none of these countries landed on the moon's south polar region, where it is tough to land due to its rough terrain. 

If the Chandrayaan-3 softly lands on the moon's south polar region, it will be a big achievement for India and Isro, which will open new chapters for the country in the domain of space.

Beyond all these, the success of the space mission will have a huge impact on the Indian economy as well.

Several countries' space agencies and even private space companies also tried to land on the lunar surface but failed miserably. Recently, in the race to land on the lunar surface, Russia's LUNA-25 crashed. Before Russia, Japan's spacecraft also crashed while attempting to land on the moon in April this year. Israel's nonprofit aimed for the same achievement in 2019, but the spacecraft crashed on its way.

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Growth phase of space economy

Recently, a report issued by Deloitte noted that the world is already in the exponential growth phase in the space economy. Around 1,791 companies have raised over USD 272 billion through private equity since 2013. 

The annual report also suggests that the global space economy is currently valued at USD 546 billion in the second quarter of 2023, which is an increase of 91 per cent in the last decade.

The space economy of India will also cross the USD 13 billion mark by the year 2025. The success of Chandrayaan-3 will give a huge boost to the space companies in India, and encourage more innovation in the space technologies. The success of the mission will result in many space companies rushing to India for collaborations and research. It will also enhance Isro’s global standing in space innovation.