RAS question
ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon's south pole in which year?
Correct answer: (D) 2023.
ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander landed near the Moon's south pole on 23 August 2023.
Explanation
Chandrayaan-3 is tied to the year 2023 because its Vikram lander touched down near the Moon's south pole on 23 August 2023. Indian Space Research Organisation confirms both the date and the south-pole location while discussing the lander's Laser Retroreflector Array, which began serving as a precisely located marker on the lunar surface. The exam point is therefore not the later 2024 activity of the instrument, but the landing event itself. With this landing, India became the fourth country to land on the Moon. So among the given years, only 2023 matches the Chandrayaan-3 south-pole landing.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) 2021 is too early; Indian Space Research Organisation places Chandrayaan-3's landing on 23 August 2023.
- (B) 2024 relates to ISRO's later page about the lander's instrument, not to the landing year, which was 2023.
- (C) 2022 does not match the stated landing date, because Chandrayaan-3 landed on 23 August 2023.
Concept
This tests landmark Indian space missions under Science and Technology. RAS repeats such dates because ISRO achievements are standard current-affairs anchors with national significance.