Explained: What Went Into Finding The Best Spot For Chandrayaan-3 Landing On The Moon

India's third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, is set to soon achieve a historic landing on the south pole of the Moon.

As this moment approaches, scientists at the ISRO-Space Applications Centre and Physical Research Laboratory reflect on the process of selecting the landing sites.

The selection of the landing site for Chandrayaan-3 was a thorough process that involved analysing data from previous lunar missions, including Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-2, Selene, and the US-led Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission.

The criteria for choosing the landing site included factors such as topography, slope, illumination, and hazard avoidance.

A team of scientists from ISRO and other institutions utilised a moving window technique to identify hazard-free areas measuring 4 km x 2.4 km within the latitude range of 60 to 70 degress south on the near side of the Moon.

From the initial search, 20 potential sites were selected for further analysis. Medium-resolution data from the US's LRO's lunar orbiter laser altimeter, Selene, and LRO's narrow angle cameras were used to characterise these sites and gather more information.

Eight out of the 20 sites were selected for detailed characterisation using high-resolution data from OHRC, a camera on board the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter.

The OHRC captured stereo images of these eight sites with a pixel resolution better than 32 cm, which were then used to generate a digital elevation model.

This information comes from a paper published by a team of scientists from the High Resolution Data Processing Division, including Amitabh, K Suresh, Ajay K Prashar, and Abdullah Suhail.