NewsRescue
According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a part of India’s historic Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft conducted a “uncontrolled re-entry” into the Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday and crashed into the Pacific Ocean, nearly three months after it blasted off towards the Moon.
The fallen item, according to the space agency, is a cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 M4 launch vehicle, which successfully put the Chandrayaan-3 into its planned orbit in August.
The re-entry of the rocket body into the Earth’s atmosphere was “fully compliant” with the “25-year rule” proposed by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) for LEO (low Earth orbit) objects, according to the ISRO. The IADC, which coordinates efforts to deal with debris in Earth’s orbit, strives to ensure that
the post-operational life of such objects is no more than 25 years.
On August 23, India’s lunar mission made history by landing near the virtually unexplored south pole of the Moon, thereby becoming the fourth country – after the USSR, the US, and China – to make a landing on the lunar surface. A few days later, it confirmed the presence of sulfur in the region after on-site tests. It is now parked on the Moon and set on sleep mode.
At the end of September, efforts were undertaken to rev up the lander and rover, but they were eventually futile. As previously reported by RT, the spacecraft’s instruments did not respond to commands, despite the fact that the onboard batteries were completely charged and the solar panels were pointing towards the Sun.
Following the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, which cost under $75 million, the ISRO is considering working with a Japanese space agency on its future Moon mission.
According to India Today, the collaborative Lunar Polar Exploration (Lupex) mission will examine the Moon’s south pole and determine how much water can be supplied locally from the lunar surface.
While the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will supply the lunar rover and launcher, the Isro will supply the mission’s lander.