India’s space agency is fast approaching the final phase of its bid to land a space lander on the moon, a mission that has ramifications for the Asian country’s ambitions to become a nation with a say in future exploration of the country’s only natural satellite. Earth, Reuters reports.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 from India’s main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Since then, it has passed through a series of increasingly wide Earth orbits, reached the moon’s orbit and become a source of national pride in India as well as global interest after the Russians’ attempt to reach the moon for the first time in nearly half a century failed miserably on Sunday.

Here are 3 key things to know about the Indian Space Research Agency (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 mission:

India sent an SUV-sized lander to the moon

Chandrayaan-3 is targeting a landing at the moon’s south pole, an area of ​​frozen water that could be a source of oxygen, fuel and water for future lunar missions or a long-term presence such as a lunar colony.

If it lands successfully, the Chandrayaan-3 lander will operate for two weeks, conducting a series of experiments that include spectrometric analysis of the lunar surface’s mineral composition.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander is about 2 meters tall and weighs a little more than 1,700 kilograms, which is about the size of an SUV. It was designed to deploy a smaller lunar rover weighing only 26 kilograms.

Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, told Reuters that the US space agency was “looking forward” to the data collected by the Indian mission.

Chandrayaan-3 is not India’s first attempt to land on the moon

India’s previous attempt to land a lander on the south pole of the moon failed in 2019.

The Chandrayaan-2 mission successfully entered lunar orbit, but its lander and rover were destroyed in an accident near the site of the next attempt.

Difficult terrain is one of the complications that arise when trying to land on the south pole of the Moon.

ISRO scientists say they have made the necessary adjustments that will make a successful satellite landing much more likely this time. Among them is the expansion of the potential area for selenization.

The lander was also equipped with more impact-resistant legs and had more fuel on board.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is not just about the Moon

A successful mission would make India only the fourth country in human history to land a satellite, after the former Soviet Union, the United States and China.

Ispace, the Japanese startup that earlier this year attempted to become the first private company to land on the moon, lost contact with the lander on April 25, a failure.

India’s successful mission came just before national elections scheduled for next year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government hoping to reap the rewards of public investment in space.

India is also encouraging private investment in its aerospace industry, including satellite launches.

The Asian country wants its private firms to significantly increase their market share in global startups over the next decade. The Modi government is talking about a percentage 5 times higher than the current one, but experts are more cautious about this goal.

In July, at the launch of the new mission, Modi said that ISRO was “writing a new chapter in India’s space odyssey” and that it was “uplifting the dreams and ambitions of every Indian”.

ISRO plans to broadcast the launch on Wednesday at 17:20 local time, 16:50 Romanian time.