Top Chinese scientist claims Chandrayaan-3 did not land in Moon's south pole: Report

The Chinese publication also quoted a professor from Sydney who supported the Chinese scientist's claims. (File photo)

One of China's top scientists, the “founding father” of the country's lunar exploration programme, has disputed India’s claim that its Chandrayaan-3 rover landed near the Moon’s south pole during a historic mission in August.

Ouyang Ziyuan, who was the chief scientist on China's first lunar mission,  said it was inaccurate to say the Indian spacecraft had landed near the lunar south pole. “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.

Chandrayaan-3's rover landed at a latitude of around 69 degrees south. Ouyang told the publication it was within the moon’s southern hemisphere but not the polar region, which he considered to be “between the latitudes of 88.5 and 90 degrees” South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

The Earth’s axis is tilted at around 23.5 degrees and accordingly, the southern pole is defined to be between 66.5 and 90 degrees south. Ouyang, however, argued that since the Moon’s tilt was only 1.5 degrees, the polar region was much smaller.

The publication also quoted Richard de Grijs, a professor at Macquarie University’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in Sydney, who said that Chandrayaan-3 had landed in a region outside the lunar south pole.

“While the probe’s landing site is frequently referred to as the ‘polar region’ in news media and other publications, the location of Chandrayaan-3 is not within the lunar Antarctic Circle, defined as the lunar geographic region further south than 80 degrees south,” SCMP quoted the professor as saying.

Meanwhile, according to NASA, the Moon's “entire” polar region extends from 80 to 90 degrees south, and hence Chandrayaan-3 landed outside the polar region but at a higher latitude than achieved by other Moon missions, SCMP reported.

But after Chandrayaan-3's successful landing, NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on their successful “lunar south pole landing”.

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

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— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 23, 2023

After Chandrayaan-3's successful landing, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said 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”.