Data Lab | With a budget less than Hollywood's 'Interstellar', India's Chandrayaan-3 is a big success

The Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission, conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), achieved a successful soft landing at 6:04 PM (IST) on August 23. India made a historic achievement, becoming the first country to land a spacecraft on the Moon's southern pole. This milestone comes days after a Russian probe, Luna-25, crashed in the same area on August 21. 

Just a few hours before India's historic Chandrayaan-3's soft landing on the moon, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO and the world's wealthiest, expressed his admiration for the project's cost-effectiveness. Responding to a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), which compared Chandrayaan-3's budget to that of the movie Interstellar, Musk stated that the mission is "good for India." The post on X highlighted that India's lunar mission budget amounted to a mere $75 million, while the creators of Interstellar had spent $165 million on the film.

ISRO has a real talent for achieving remarkable results without breaking the bank

Indeed, Chandrayaan-3's budget stands out for its frugality, a testament to the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) knack for achieving remarkable feats on a limited budget. This mission represents ISRO's third venture to the lunar surface, following the successful Chandrayaan-1 (2008), which contributed to the discovery of liquid water on the moon. However, Chandrayaan-2 (2019) faced a communication failure and ultimately crashed into the lunar surface.

Also read | 'Every Indian household is celebrating,' PM Modi says after India lands on Moon

Budget breakdown and global comparisons

Reports on the day of Chandrayaan-3's launch, including one by Reuters, estimated the mission's budget at just under $75 million, roughly equivalent to ₹615 crore. Furthermore, an ANI report provided more specific details, indicating that the approved cost of Chandrayaan-3 was ₹250 crore (around $31 million), excluding launch vehicle expenses.

ISRO's impressive cost-efficiency in space exploration is strikingly evident when compared to other space agencies worldwide. In 2022, India's space programme budget ranked seventh globally, with government spending totalling $1.93 billion. Even in lunar missions, Chandrayaan-3's budget remains notably lower than its counterparts. For instance, Russia's Luna-25, which tragically crashed on the moon shortly before Chandrayaan-3's successful mission, reportedly had a budget ranging between $190-200 million.

NASA, the United States' space agency, is projected to allocate as much as $93 billion for its Artemis moon exploration programme by 2025.

Also read | ‘India is on the moon’: ISRO chief S Somanath celebrates Chandrayaan-3's triumph on lunar landing

Despite limited resources, ISRO has cultivated an illustrious track record in space exploration. To date, the space agency has executed 124 spacecraft missions and 93 launch missions. 

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: