New Delhi: A Chinese scientist has claimed that the Chandrayaan 3 sent by the Indian Space Research Organisation in August did not land on the South Pole of the lunar surface.
Ouyang Ziyuan, who was repotedly the chief scientist on China’s first lunar mission made the claim.
“The landing site of the Chandrayaan-3 was not at the moon’s south pole, not in the polar region of the moon’s south pole, nor was it ‘near the Antarctic polar region’,” Ouyang told Science Times newspaper, reported Money Control.
However, soon after the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3, NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated the ISRO on the successful “lunar south pole landing”.
In a X post NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote, “Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!”
Congratulations @isro on your successful Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission! https://t.co/UJArS7gsTv
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 23, 2023
Also Prime Minister Narendra Modi said following the historic achievement that “through the hard work and talent of our scientists, India has reached the south pole of the moon, where no other country in the world has ever reached”.
Ms Kalinga