Chandrayaan-3 Mission Cost: How ISRO's Budget Compares To China, Russia

New Delhi: Chandrayaan-3, which became the first spacecraft to land near the moon’s uncharted south pole on Wednesday, was built and launched at an estimated budget of $75 million, according to most recent information available.

A view of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander during its soft landing along side a countdown from the live telecast of the lander on the moon's surface at Indian Space Research Organisation's headquarters, in Bengaluru.

In comparison, Russia’s Luna-25, which crashed while trying to reach the same area of the moon last week, took roughly $200 million to build and launch, making India’s programme notable for success despite requiring much lower spending. The mission itself, Isro officials said in the past and reiterated on Wednesday, was meant to demonstrate the Indian space agency’s aspirations of interplanetary travel and doing so at shoestring budgets unheard of in other countries.