“From a political point of view the Indian Moon landing would be the crowning achievement from a relatively short but structured space programme. Technologically it will be a superb advertisement for Indian industrial prowess where we’re reminded just last week of the difficulties of this task by the failed Russian Luna 25 spacecraft. Scientifically, the south pole of the Moon seems to have relatively abundant water supplies, probably hiding in the near darkness of the crater walls, so any ability to exploit this natural resource could be important as we move to establishing a Moon base.”

Professor Don Pollacco, Department of Physics, University of Warwick.