Science and Technology › Space
हिन्दी — Read in HindiMoon, Sun and planetary missions
Missions to the Moon, the Sun, the planets and the asteroids, India's and other countries'. Prelims has asked about Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter Mission.
Foundation note: India's Moon, Mars, Sun and Venus missions
All 4 articles shown; the 1 that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026 are marked.Show only these
The lunar south pole
Copy link to The lunar south polePrelims and Mains
The lunar south pole is the part of the Moon where long sunlight and water ice almost sit together, which is why every serious lunar plan, China's as much as America's, now points at the same few hundred kilometres.
- A permanently shadowed region is a crater floor the Sun never reaches, and the water ice held there is the resource that makes a base worth building.
- A south pole mission needs a near polar orbit, which the 5.1 degree tilt of the Moon's orbit complicates, and a solar powered lander must land in sunlight.
- A launch window is when Earth, the Moon and the spacecraft align so the target orbit costs least fuel; for the Moon it opens roughly once a month.
What changed
26 Aug 2026BriefChina called off Chang'e 7 and postponed its lunar south pole mission to next year, which is less a failure than a fact of orbital mechanics. The Hindu, 26 Aug 2026: Why lunar missions have launch windows (opens in a new tab)
Space weather forecasting from Aditya-L1
Copy link to Space weather forecasting from Aditya-L1Prelims and Mains
Space weather forecasting is the attempt to read the Sun's atmosphere for a sign of a solar flare hours before it erupts.
- A solar flare gives no useful warning once it has erupted, because its radiation crosses to Earth in about eight minutes.
- Aditya-L1 watches the Sun from a halo orbit around L1, the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.
- From L1 the Sun can be watched without the Earth ever coming in the way.
Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
- Images the Sun in near-ultraviolet light
- Gave the pictures of the lower atmosphere where the brightenings appear
Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
- Gave the low energy X-ray data
High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS)
- Gave the high energy X-ray data
What changed
31 Aug 2026BriefA study using Aditya-L1 found that a major solar flare is preceded, hours ahead, by small, short lived brightenings clustered where it later erupts. Repeated small releases of magnetic energy appear to destabilise an active region until a large flare breaks out. The brightenings show in the Sun's lower atmosphere, in SUIT images read together with both X-ray payloads. The Hindu, 31 Aug 2026: New study captures Sun's early warning signs before solar flares (opens in a new tab)
Science results from Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1
Copy link to Science results from Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1Prelims
Chandrayaan-3 landed near the lunar south pole in 2023 with a thermal probe, a spectrometer, a plasma probe and a seismometer, and Aditya-L1 observes the Sun from the first Lagrange point.
What changed
23 Jul 2026BriefThe ChaSTE probe gave the first temperature profile measured in place at a high lunar latitude, and found a two layer regolith whose porous top acts as a blanket over any water ice below. Pragyan's X-ray spectrometer found a uniform, magnesium rich composition that supports the lunar magma ocean hypothesis. Aditya-L1 captured the first spectroscopic signatures of the onset of a coronal mass ejection. PIB, 23 Jul 2026: PARLIAMENT QUESTION: ACHIEVEMENTS OF ADITYA-L1 MISSION (opens in a new tab)
Helium 3 and lunar mining
Copy link to Helium 3 and lunar miningPrelims
Helium 3 is a helium isotope with one neutron fewer than ordinary helium.
- It is used to reach the very low temperatures that cool quantum computers, and is a candidate fuel for future fusion plants.
- Apollo samples show it is concentrated in the regolith, the Moon's topmost layer, where the solar wind implanted it over billions of years, but at only a few parts per billion.
What changed
16 Jun 2026BriefPriced above $2,000 a litre, helium 3 is drawing space start ups that plan to heat lunar soil to release trapped gases. The Indian Express, 16 Jun 2026: What is Helium-3, the $2,000/litre rare gas sparking a race to mine the Moon? (opens in a new tab)
See also: The lunar south pole
Also filed elsewhere
- The Artemis Accords · on Space policy, private sector and governance
The Artemis Accords are a set of principles, drafted by the United States in 2020, that a country signs to take part in NASA's Artemis programme to return to the Moon.