This afternoon, September 6th, India will attempt a significant first for the nation: landing a vehicle intact on the surface of the Moon. If successful, India will become the fourth country to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, joining the United States, Russia, and China.
The landing is part of India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission. Launched in late July, the mission sent multiple robotic spacecraft to the Moon: an orbiter that will study the lunar surface from above and a lander that will carry a rover to the ground to characterize the Moon’s geography. The lander and rover are headed to a particularly tantalizing place: the Moon’s south pole. The goal is to learn more about the materials that might be lurking in this relatively…