India’s space mission enters moon’s orbit

India’s latest space mission entered the moon’s orbit on Saturday ahead of the country’s second attempted lunar landing, as its cut-price space programme seeks to reach new heights.

The world’s most populous nation has a comparatively low-budget aerospace programme that is rapidly closing in on the milestones set by global space powers.

Only Russia, the United States and China have previously achieved a controlled landing on the lunar surface.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed that Chandrayaan-3, which means “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit, had been “successfully inserted into the lunar orbit”, more than three weeks after its launch.

If the rest of the current mission goes to plan, the mission will safely touch down near the moon’s little-explored south pole between August 23 and 24.

India’s last attempt to do so ended in failure four years ago, when ground control lost contact moments before landing.

Developed by ISRO, Chandrayaan-3 includes a lander module named Vikram, which means “valour” in Sanskrit, and a rover named Pragyan, the Sanskrit word for wisdom.

The mission comes with a price tag of $74.6 million — far smaller than those of other countries, and a testament to India’s frugal space engineering.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing space technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.