India makes history as Chandrayaan-3 lands near Moon's south pole

1. India's Chandrayaan-3 becomes the first space mission to land near the south pole of the Moon
2. "India is now on the Moon," announces PM Narendra Modi immediately after the Vikram lander touches down on the lunar surface
3. Inside the lander is the six-wheeled Pragyaan rover, which, if all goes to plan, will roam the lunar surface gathering images and data
4. Scientists believe the Moon's craters that are permanently in shadow may hold frozen water
5. The attempt - India's third lunar mission - comes days after Russia's unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft span out of control and crashed into the Moon

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We're ending our live coverage now, but thanks for joining us as we've reported the tense descent and moments of jubilation as the Chandrayaan-3 achieved its goal of a soft landing near the Moon's south pole.

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Take a look at what happened today: India makes historic landing near Moon's south pole

Find out why it's such a big deal: The race to unravel the mysteries of Moon's south pole

Or relive the moment the lander touched down and watch our correspondent's live reaction to it.

This page was brought to you by teams in Delhi and London, including Sharanya Harishikesh, Vikas Pandey, Nikita Mandhani, Meryl Sebastian, Zoya Mateen, Ali Abbas Ahmadi, Jacqueline Howard, Gabriela Pomeroy, Jack Burgess and Joel Guinto. It was edited by Geeta Pandey, Dulcie Lee, Nathan Williams and Heather Sharp.

What's been happening?

EPA

School children from across India watched Chandrayaan-3's successful landing on the moon

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission has made history by landing safely near the south pole of the Moon. We'll soon be closing our live coverage, but here's a quick recap before we go:

• India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft is the first to ever land near the lunar south pole, a completely unexplored part of the Moon
• The control room at India's space agency ISRO went wild, with scientists cheering and punching the air as the craft touched down
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared "India is now on the Moon!" and "the sky is not the limit" as he followed the launch by video link from South Africa where he is attending the Brics summit

• The lander has already sent back images of the Moon's surface - next, all going well, a six-wheeled rover will roll out of its belly and roam around the rocks and craters gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis
• With this, India joins a select group of countries – the US, Soviet Union and China – that have successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon

Riches to be found at the Moon's desolate south pole

Rebecca Morelle

Science editor

The lunar south pole is a desolate place - its surface, strewn with boulders and pitted with giant craters, sees little sunlight.

But there are riches to be had there.

It’s thought to hold important minerals - and some are eyeing the polar region as a site for future mining.

But its most important resource is its water. The huge craters - permanently in shadow - hold ice.

And not only would this be vital for human visitors - Nasa’s Artemis mission is eventually aiming for a moon base here - but water when it’s split into hydrogen and oxygen could be used as a future fuel for hopping off to other parts of the solar system.

But the water also holds some scientific treasures too.

It’s thought that water on the Moon comes from space rocks that crashed into the lunar surface early in its history – and it’s been preserved, frozen in time.

And studying it could give us new insight into the beginnings of the solar system.

Putin sends 'heartfelt congratulations' to India

Reut

Lavrov and Modi are currently in South Africa, attending the Brics summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have offered their congratulations to India for its successful soft-landing on the Moon, days after the Russian attempt spiralled out of control and crashed.

Putin sent his "heartfelt congratulations" to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said the success was a "testament to the impressive progress made by India", Russia's state-owned news agency Tass quoted the Kremlin as saying.

Lavrov told his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar: "I salute you. Really, really impressive. Congratulations."

Russian space agency Roscosmos also sent its congratulations to the Indian space agency.

New image shows lander's leg on surface of the Moon

Isro via Twitter

An image of Chandrayaan-3's landing site taken after it landed on the Moon

A little while ago we brought you images taken by the lander as it descended - India's space agency Isro has tweeted an image showing the landing site.

One of the legs of the Vikram lander is visible, as well as its shadow.

The image was taken by the craft's camera after it successfully landed on a "relatively flat" part of the Moon's surface, according to the tweet by Isro.

In pictures: Moments of celebration

Getty Images

Jubilant residents of New Delhi hold aloft a model rocket and an image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

@BCCI, X

The Indian Men's Cricket Team watch the landing live field-side

Getty Images

People gather in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir to celebrate the soft landing

Getty Images

People take to the streets in New Delhi in celebration

What's the evidence that the Moon has water?

Soutik Biswas

India Correspondent

There are several pieces of evidence consistent with water on the Moon, says Simeon Barber, a planetary scientist at the UK's Open University, who also works with the European Space Agency.

In 2018, data from a Nasa instrument carried by Chandrayaan-1 revealed water ice or hydroxyl - a molecule containing one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom - in parts of the Moon that are permanently shadowed.

Data from Nasa's LCROSS satellite, which crashed into a crater near the Moon’s south pole in 2009, also showed water ice in the plume kicked up on impact.

Scientists have lab analyses of lunar samples (Apollo, Luna missions) and meteorites which show elevated levels of water in some parts of the sample like volcanic glass beads.

"All of the above could be explained by water or hydroxyl on the Moon, controlled by temperature differences - but the different data sets do not always correlate neatly," Prof Barber says.

NASA

An undated handout from Nasa with an illustration depicting water trapped in the lunar surface, alongside the craft that found it

The importance of lander missions such as Chandrayaan-3 is that they will provide "ground truth" for all of these remote measurements - providing detail at the very local scale.

But the main caveat is that neither Chandrayaan-3 nor the doomed Luna-25 had payloads "optimised" for the detection and measurement of water ice, Prof Barber says.

"They will provide unique information, but we still need dedicated instruments to be landed on the Moon to make more precise measurements."

New images of Moon's surface taken by lander

Isro

These Images, taken during the Chandrayaan-3 lander's descent to the Moon, have just been released.

Isro shared the pictures on social media and says they were taken by the lander's horizontal velocity camera.

Isro

Moon landing shows India's technological sophistication - researcher

BBC

We've just heard from Dr Raji Rajagopalan, director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation think tank, based in Delhi.

She says the moon landing is not only a matter of national pride, but shows the world how sophisticated and mature India's space program is.

"This is a validation of many of the advanced technologies that the space agency has developed," Rajagopalan says.

When India's space programme began, interplanetary or deep space missions were not part of the goals, but the development of its capabilities has established it as a global space power.

"India's attempt is not duplicating what others have done, but complementing it: we want to expand humanity's understanding of the lunar surface," she adds.

Where spacecraft have landed on the Moon

Only four countries have successfully landed a craft on the moon - the US, the former Soviet Union, China and now India.

India, however, is the first to land a spacecraft on the lunar south pole.

Take a closer look at all the successful landings.

BBC

Why explore the Moon's south pole?

Isro

An image sent by Chandrayaan-3 show the craters on the lunar surface

The Moon's south pole, according to Nasa, is full of "mystery, science and intrigue".

There are deep craters which have been shielded from sunlight for billions of years, where temperatures can plummet to astonishing lows of -248C (-414F).

Water is one key reason why scientists want to explore the area around the lunar south pole.

Scientists believe frozen water might have accumulated in cold polar regions over millions of years and could provide a unique sample for scientists to analyse and understand the history of water in our solar system.

If the water ice on the Moon turns out to be possible to extract, some hope it could eventually be used by astronauts, reducing the amount of water that would have be blasted into space on crewed missions.

Also, water molecules can be broken into hydrogen and oxygen atoms - which could perhaps one day be used as propellants for rockets.

Read more here.

What happens next?

Geeta Pandey

BBC News, Delhi

Now that the Vikram lander had touched down, it will have to wait for a few hours for the dust to settle. Literally.

After that, panels on one of its sides will open and a ramp will be deployed to enable Pragyaan, the rover, to slide down to the surface.

It will then begin the Moon walk - moving at a speed of 1cm per second, it will roam around the rocks and craters, gathering crucial data and images.

Pragyaan will only communicate with the lander which will send the information to the orbiter from Chandrayaan-2 - which is still circling the Moon - to pass it on to the Earth for analysis.

The landing coincides with the start of a lunar day – a day on the Moon equals 28 days on Earth and this will mean the lander and rover will have 14 days of sunlight to charge their batteries. Once night falls, they will discharge and stop working. It is not yet clear whether they will come back to life when the next lunar day starts.

The lander and the rover are carrying five scientific instruments which will help find out what goes on the Moon's surface and above and below it.

'Incredible!' - ESA and Nasa chiefs react

Both the US space agency, Nasa, and the European space agency helped Isro scientists to track the Chandrayaan-3 mission at times when it was out of the vision of India's own space tracking station.

Now the heads of both have expressed enthusiastic congratulations on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!

Bill NeslonNasa administrator

The director general of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, also thanks ESA Operations for their "precious support" in this process.

"We, too, are learning great lessons and providing crucial expertise," he adds.

Incredible! Congratulations to @isro, #Chandrayaan_3, and to all the people of India!! What a way to demonstrate new technologies AND achieve India's first soft landing on another celestial body. Well done, I am thoroughly impressed. And kudos once again to @esaoperations for your precious support through this process. We, too, are learning great lessons and providing crucial expertise.

Josef AschbacherDirector General, ESA

In pictures: India celebrates Moon landing

Reuters

Cheers erupted from the crowd of people watching a live stream of the landing in Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabad

Getty Images

Some were highly confident of success, taking to the streets with printed banners

Getty Images

Crowds celebrated at another live stream location on the other side of the country in Chennai

Getty Images

Isro employees gave a standing ovation to the successful landing

Once in a lifetime event, says Indian president

PTI

India's President Droupadi Murmu called Chandrayaan-3's soft landing on the Moon "a momentous occasion".

"Our scientists have not only made history but also remade the idea of geography," she said.

Ms Murmu called it an event that "happens once in a lifetime".

"I congratulate Isro and everybody involved in this mission and wish them greater accomplishments ahead," she said.

The success of Chandrayaan-3, I believe, is also a major achievement for the whole of human kind."

How has India kept the cost of its space programme so low?

The cost of India’s space missions is back in focus after the country’s Chandrayaan-3 made a successful soft landing on the Moon.

The mission costs 6.1bn rupees ($75m; £58m). This is less than half the $200m cost of Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft which crashed on Sunday.

India’s previous Moon and Mars missions were also carried out at a modest cost, according to reports by Indian media.

They attribute this to Isro's efforts to prevent “wastage of products”.

Explaining why India’s Mars mission cost less than its US counterpart, UK space scientist Prof Andrew Coates told the BBC that India restricted the payload of the Mangalyaan craft to 15kg, which kept the successful mission “small”.

India’s launch costs could go lower still as the country plans to build a new spaceport at Kulasekarapattinam in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, senior Isro scientists told BBC Tamil.

The port with an ideal launch location will reduce transportation costs.

Reported by the BBC's Nikhila Henry in Delhi

A look back at India's space programme

Zoya Mateen

BBC News, Delhi

When the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) was founded in 1969, its primary goal was fairly simple - to design and launch satellites for forecasting storms, mitigating floods and bolstering telecommunications in the country.

Now the space agency has made history after its Chandrayaan-3 became the first space mission to land near the south pole of the Moon

It’s a huge moment, especially for a country which operates on a fraction of what others spend on space exploration.

But behind the milestone mission, dubbed at the most ambitious yet for India, lies years of effort.

In the beginning, India space missions were carried out with the help of other countries and it wasn’t until the 1990s that Isro began to design and launch satellites on its own.

Since then the country has achieved significant milestones to emerge as a leader in space missions.

Getty Images

In 2009, India sent a robotic orbiter called Chandrayaan-1 to the moon, which helped discover that water ice can exist on the lunar surface.

In 2014, India successfully put a satellite into orbit around Mars, becoming the fourth nation to do so.

And in 2017, India created history by successfully launching 104 satellites on a single mission, overtaking the previous record of 37 satellites launched by Russia in 2014.

The journey has been hardly easy - and yet here we are.

'This is the work of a generation of scientists'

An overjoyed S Somnath, the chief of Isro, addressed a gathering short while ago.

He began his speech by thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his "endless support and faith" in the space agency's work

"I also want to thank each and every person who prayed the mission is a success," he told a beaming crowd.

"This is not our work alone, this is the work of a generation of Isro scientists."

'My goodness!' - BBC reporter's live reaction to historic Moon landing

If you've not had enough emotion already, watch Samira Hussain go through a full rollercoaster of them as India successfully lands the Chandrayaan-3:

'My goodness!' - BBC reporter's live reaction to historic moon landing

India becomes fourth country to touch down on Moon

Rebecca Morelle

Science editor

This is a massive moment for India - and it bumps them up the space superpower list.

Landing on the Moon is far from easy – as Russia’s attempt this week highlighted – and many missions have failed, including India’s first attempt.

But it was second time lucky, and India now joins three other nations - the US, the former Soviet Union and China - who’ve successfully touched down on the lunar surface.

And they’re now ready to explore an area where no other spacecraft has been – the lunar south pole.

There’s growing scientific interest here. The craters in this region are permanently in shadow and contain frozen water.

This would be a crucial resource for future human exploration - Nasa’s Artemis mission, which is sending astronauts to the Moon, is targeting this region too.

Water would also be crucial for propelling us further out into the solar system.

Splitting it into its constituent parts of hydrogen and oxygen could provide a potential fuel for exploring places like Mars and beyond.