The TV-sized Moon Impact Probe was released from a height of 100 km towards the Moon (Image: ISRO)

A probe from India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission has landed on the Moon, officials at the Indian Space Research Organisation said on Friday.

The Moon Impact Probe detached itself from Chandrayaan-1 about 100 km from the Moon’s surface and crash-landed on the south pole of the Moon at 1501 GMT, officials said in Bangalore.

“It was a flawless operation,” said SK Shivakumar, director of ISRO Telemetry’s tracking and command network.


The probe aimed to kick up some dust, which instruments in the mother craft would analyse. It had already sent images from its descent to the mother ship, Shivakumar said. At the time of this posting, the images had not yet been published on ISRO’s website.

A principal objective is to look for helium-3, an isotope that could power nuclear fusion reactors and that some say could be a valuable source of energy in the future.

It is thought to be more plentiful on the Moon than on Earth, but still rare and very difficult to extract.

India launched Chandrayaan-1 on 22 October, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power.

Chandrayaan-1, a cuboid spacecraft built by ISRO, is also seen as a boost for the country’s ambitions to gain more global space business.

In April, India sent 10 satellites into orbit from a single rocket, and ISRO says it plans more launches before a proposed crewed mission to space and then on to Mars.