The South Pole of the Moon - a fascinating but dangerous region.

India made history by landing the first spacecraft near the Moon's south pole, a region containing precious but extremely difficult-to-land water ice.

The South Pole of the Moon - a fascinating but dangerous region.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on July 14. Video : Space

India successfully landed the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft near the Moon's south pole on the evening of August 23rd, becoming the first country to have a landing device in this strategic area and the fourth country to have landed a device on the Moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States, and China. This remarkable achievement occurred just days after Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed there. Previously, the Chandrayaan-2 lander also failed to land at the Moon's south pole.

"Space travel is difficult, and landing on the surface of another celestial body is among the most challenging aspects of space travel," commented Robert Braun, head of the Space Exploration Center at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (USA).

There are countless reasons for a failed landing, but in this case, the biggest reason is that Russia and India were trying to do something extremely difficult: land for the first time in a place no one had ever been before. India's success, especially in the context of Russia's recent failure, was a huge victory.

This image shows the far south pole of the Moon, taken by the Luna-25 spacecraft (Russia) on August 17th, before it crashed into the lunar surface. Photo: Roscosmos

Attractive resources

The lunar south pole is a particularly valuable space property due to its reserves of frozen water. It is also believed to be the region with the most water on the Moon. The frozen water in these dark depressions could be converted into drinking water for future astronauts.

Countries are also paying attention to these reserves because water can be separated into oxygen and hydrogen. These could be used as fuel to launch rockets from the Moon to Mars without the significant gravitational strain of launching from Earth. Water ice could also be exploited to produce breathable oxygen for human bases on the Moon.

Besides India and Russia, the US and China are also targeting the Moon's south pole. These two space powers hope to land there before the end of 2030.

Danger lurks

As it approaches the lunar surface, the lander needs to decelerate, often rotating and extending its landing legs. Then, upon impact, the system must be robust enough to withstand the shock. "Many of those things are verified through simulations. But it's very difficult to create a highly accurate or faithful simulation of something you haven't experienced," Braun said.

During the landing process, every operation, calculation, and movement must occur precisely, in the right time and in the right order. Any error or malfunction in the hardware or software could cause the lander to crash onto the Moon.

According to Braun, the final stage of the landing process is the most difficult because the lander begins to interact with the lunar surface. If the landing gear hits a rock, the lander could tip over and the mission would end. Additionally, lunar dust could cloud the instruments and make the mission less successful.

This image shows a relatively flat section of the Vikram lunar landing site. Photo: ISRO

The very gravitational pull of the Moon's south pole—these perpetually dark, ice-filled regions—also makes landing more difficult. Landing stations often use cameras to assess the ground below in real time during the final minutes as they approach the lunar surface. This observation helps them identify rocks and depressions to avoid to prevent tipping over upon landing.

At the south pole, landing sites can fly over several stretches of shadow, even if they don't land in the shadowed area, according to Braun. This doesn't seem to have affected landing efforts at the south pole so far, but the shadows could threaten future lunar missions. Furthermore, no one has ever been to the south pole before. Compared to the equatorial region where the Apollo landings took place, it's a land that remains largely a mystery.

Thu Thao (According to Business Insider )

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