Chinese scientist Ouyang Jiyuan, known as the father of China’s lunar exploration program, said ISRO’s achievement of India landing on the moon’s south pole was overhyped.
Chandrayaan-3 began its journey from Sriharikota on July 14 and landed on the lunar surface on August 23. The Chinese-language newspaper Science Times reported that the scientist said the landing site at 69 degrees south latitude was not near the South Pole.
According to a report in Bloomberg, 69 degrees south on Earth lies within the Antarctic Circle, while the circle on the Moon’s surface is said to be much closer to the pole.
There is no Chandrayaan-3 landing site at the Moon’s South Pole, not near the Moon’s South Pole region, Jiuan said.
“It is ‘false’ to say that Chandrayaan-3 landed at the south pole of the moon, which is 619 km from the polar region,” he said.
Chinese scientist Jiyuan is not the first to question the achievements of Chandrayaan-3. Earlier, Beijing-based space expert Pang Zhihao told Global Times that China is more advanced in various fields.
After launching ChangE-2 in 2010, China could directly send orbiters and landers into the Earth-Moon transfer orbit. India had said that it could not do this considering the limited capacity of its launch vehicles.
The engine used by China is also very advanced. Pang said its lunar rover is too big.
