India is just moments away from scripting history, as Chandrayaan-3, the country's ambitious moon mission spacecraft is expected to land near the South Pole of the lunar surface on Wednesday, August 23. If all goes as planned, India will become the first country to land near the South Pole of the moon, which remains an area unexplored by humans. Even the human moon missions of the United States have not explored the South Pole of the moon. 

Why is the South Pole important?

Scientists say that one of the reasons why this region is important for the moon mission is because of the presence of water ice in craters on the South Pole. These areas near the South Pole of the moon do not receive sunlight and temperatures plummet to minus 230 degrees celsius.

Considering the cold temperature, the frozen water in the craters may date back to billions of years ago, and would have been untouched by the sun’s radiation. Scientists believe that this water ice may hold clues to the early solar system.

The presence of water is also important for any future manned missions to the moon.

But the South Pole’s terrain and extremely cold temperatures also makes it especially challenging for space missions. 

Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft, which was also attempting to soft land near the South Pole, crashed onto the moon’s surface on August 20. India’s earlier mission, Chandrayaan-2, also faltered in the final moments, with the Vikram lander crash landing on the moon in 2019.