India to name Chandrayaan-3‘s moon landing site Shiv Shakti Point
Recently the Prime Minister said that the landing site of Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon will be known as Shiv Shakti Point. The place where Chandrayaan-2 left its footprints on the Moon will be known as ‘Tiranga Point’.
Along with this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also declared August 23 as National Space Day to commemorate the remarkable achievement of Chandrayaan-3 landing on the Moon.
The Prime Minister made these announcements during the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru where he had come to welcome the scientists of the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Key Points:
- After a 40-day journey in space, Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed on the lunar surface on August 23.
- It is noteworthy that the Moon does not fall under the jurisdiction of any one country – this is what makes global exploration and landing missions possible.
- In 1966, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs came up with the Outer Space Treaty. However, the treaty is silent about naming sites on the Moon.
- After the 2008 mission Chandrayaan-1, the place where the probe crashed (as it was for the purposes of the mission), was named “Jawahar Sthal” after the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Chandrayaan-3:
- Chandrayaan-3 has created history by becoming the first mission to soft-land on the Moon’s South Pole. The South Pole is a region that has never been explored before.
- The objective of this mission was to demonstrate safe and smooth lunar landing, rover mobility and in-plane scientific experiments.
- It is to be noted that India has now joined the United States, Russia and China among the few countries to successfully land on the Moon.
Future Missions of ISRO:
- Chandrayaan-4: Moving forward on the path of development of the Moon. On the basis of previous missions, Chandrayaan-4 can also be sent for sample return mission in the coming time.
- If successful, it could be the next logical step after Chandrayaan-2 and 3, which would provide the capability to retrieve lunar surface samples. The mission will help broaden our understanding of the Moon’s composition and history.
Source – Indian Express
