India's space mission Chandrayaan-3 enters Moon's orbit

India's space mission Chandrayaan-3 entered the Moon's orbit on Saturday, as the country's aerospace program attempts a budget uncrewed lunar landing for the second time. 

An earlier attempt proved unsuccessful in 2019, when ground control lost contact moments before landing.

Chandrayaan-1 intentionally crashed into the moon's south pole in 2008, the first uncontrolled landing on that part of the moon by anyone, then Chandrayaan-2 likely met the same fate in 2019 when attempting a controlled landing.

Only Russia, the US and China achieved successful controlled lunar landings.

What do we know about Chandrayaan-3?

The Indian aerospace program's latest space mission means "Mooncraft" in Sanskrit.

The vessel was "successfully inserted into the lunar orbit," the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said on Saturday, some three weeks after its launch.

If all goes according to plan, the mission is scheduled to touch down at the Moon between August 23 and 24. It is aiming to collect images from the little-explored lunar south pole, which cannot be observed from Earth.

The mission costs $74.6 million (roughly €67.66), a far smaller sum than that dedicated by other countries to similar missions.

A combination of taking inspiration from existing technology and comparatively low wages for highly skilled engineers helps explain the cost-effectiveness.

India's relatively low-budget space program has grown significantly since its first probe to orbit the Moon in 2008. The country became the first in Asia to put a satellite into orbit around Mars in 2014.

rmt/msh (AFP, dpa)