The lander lost contact with mission control, deviated from its intended trajectory while attempting to land near the lunar south pole, and crashed.

The ice could contain solid-state compounds that would normally melt under warmer conditions elsewhere on the Moon—compounds which could provide insight into lunar, Earth, and Solar System history.

Mountains and craters create unpredictable lighting that protect the ice from melting, but they also make landing there a challenging undertaking for scientific probes.

For future crewed missions and outposts, the ice could also be a source of oxygen, of drinking water as well as of fuel due to its hydrogen content.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander's Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) instrument began acting as a location marker close to the lunar south pole.

[29][30] A few months after the conclusion of the lander portion of the mission, ISRO officials said that the propulsion module was equipped with two radioisotope heating units (RHU), designed and developed by BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre).

RHUs keep spacecraft at their operational temperature using the decay of radioactive material, to generate electricity to power heaters.

On 15 November 2023, the Cryogenic Upper Stage (C25) of the rocket (NORAD ID: 57321) made an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere around 9:12 UTC.

The impact point is predicted over the North Pacific Ocean and the final ground track did not pass over India.

[52] On 23 August 2023, as the lander approached the low point of its orbit, its four engines fired as a braking manoeuvre at 30 kilometres (19 mi) above the Moon's surface.

After 11.5 minutes, the lander was 7.2 km (4.5 miles) above the surface; it maintained this altitude for about 10 seconds, then stabilized itself using eight smaller thrusters and rotated from a horizontal to a vertical position while continuing its descent.

It then used two of its four engines to slow its descent to roughly 150 metres (490 ft); it hovered there for about 30 seconds and located an optimal landing spot before continuing downward and touching down at 12:33 UTC.

Chandrayaan-3's lander and rover were expected to operate only for one lunar daylight period, or 14 Earth days, and the on-board electronics were not designed to withstand the −120 °C (−184 °F) nighttime temperatures on the Moon.

[85] Amit Sharma, CEO of an ISRO vendor, said, "With local sourcing of equipment and design elements, we are able to reduce the price considerably.

[87][88][89] The Associated Press, while commenting on the success of the mission, said, "The successful mission showcases India's rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's desire to project an image of an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.

[90] ISRO also released data from the observations made by ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment), one of the four instruments present on the lander module.

[91] On 29 August, ISRO reported that the laser-induced breakdown spectroscope (LIBS) instrument on board the Pragyan rover has "unambiguously" confirmed the presence of sulfur in the lunar surface near the south pole, through "first-ever in-situ measurements".

[95] Noah Petro, a project scientist at NASA, while speaking to the BBC, stated that while sulfur has been known to be in the lunar regolith from Apollo program samples, he described Pragyan's findings as a "tremendous accomplishment".

[96] Apart from sulfur, the rover also detected other elements including aluminium (Al), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O).

"[112] Rahul Gandhi, the leader of congress, also celebrated Chandrayaan-3's success, calling it a result of "tremendous ingenuity and hard work" by the country's scientific community.

"Since 1962, India's space program has continued to scale new heights and inspire generations of young dreamers," he posted on X.

[113] Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the scientists of ISRO on the successful landing and termed it a "historic" moment.

"[114] DY Chandrachud, the chief justice of India hailed the landing as "a milestone in the onward march of our nation" and congratulated the ISRO team.

This is a big step forward in space exploration and certainly a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the area of science and technology".

[120] Nepal prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal said "I congratulate Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and ISRO team of India on successful landing of Chandrayan-3 in the surface of the moon today and unleashing of a historic achievement in science and space technology.

[121] In recognition of its accomplishments with the historic Chandrayaan-3 mission in 2023, ISRO has been bestowed with the esteemed Aviation Week Laureates Award.

The award presentation is slated to take place on October 14 in Milan, during the 75th International Astronautical Congress opening ceremony.

[124] According to the International Astronautical Federation, Chandrayaan-3 mission by ISRO exemplifies the synergy of scientific curiosity and cost-effective engineering.