Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, has responded to India’s Chandrayaan-3’s Moon mission, which is scheduled to end in a few hours. Mr. Musk stated the mission is “good for India” in response to a tweet on X (previously Twitter) that claimed Chandrayaan-3 was cheaper than Interstellar. According to a post on X, the budget for India’s moon trip is $75 million, compared to the $165 million budget for Matthew McConaughey’s Interstellar. On Wednesday night, the Vikram lander from Chandrayaan-3 will touch down on the lunar surface.
The day before the launch, the news agency Reuters reported that Chandrayaan-3 was constructed for a little less than $75 million (about Rs 615 crore). Giving more information, a later ANI article stated that Chandrayaan-3’s approved price is Rs 250 crore (excluding launch vehicle expenses).
The price of Interstellar comes out to about 1,200 crore after converting from dollars to rupees.
Trade experts, however, estimated a far smaller budget for the film. No official number is provided.
A 2-meter-tall lander is part of Chandrayaan-3 and is intended to place a rover close to the lunar south pole, where it will conduct a number of experiments for the next two weeks.
The development phase of Chandrayaan-3 began in January 2020, with a launch date of some time in 2021. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, caused an unanticipated delay in the mission’s advancement.
The ISRO Chandrayaan-2 mission, which took place in 2020, was successful in deploying an orbiter, but its lander and rover were destroyed in a crash not far from the site of the Chandrayan-3 touchdown attempt.
