Google celebrates India's Chandrayaan-3 feat with special doodle
New Delhi, Aug 24: Search engine giant Google on Thursday celebrated India's success in its third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 with a special animated doodle.
India scripted history on Wednesday with its touchdown on the lunar south pole, making it the first nation to land on the uncharted surface.
With this achievement, India was propelled into an exclusive club of four, becoming the fourth country after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon.
Lauding this historic feat, the Internet behemoth has come up with a doodle "celebrating the first landing on the moon's south pole".
The graphically dynamic doodle depicts letters of 'GOOGLE' floating in outer space amid twinkling stars, with an animated 'moon' forming the second 'O' in the sequence. It also shows a spacecraft making a soft landing on the moon's south pole.
"Today's doodle celebrates the first-ever landing on the moon's south pole! The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota Range, Andhra Pradesh, India on July 14, 2023 and successfully touched down near the lunar south pole region on August 23, 2023," read the note on Thursday's Google Doodle.
"Moon landings are no easy feat. Previously, only the United States, China, and the former Soviet Union have completed soft landings on the moon but no country has made it to the southern pole region before now," it added.
In an epic moment for India as it joined the elite club in the space sector, the nation on Wednesday erupted in celebrations to hail the country's historic achievement.
Comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm.
"The moon's south pole has been an area of heightened interest for space explorers as they suspected the existence of ice deposits located inside permanently shadowed craters. Chandrayaan-3 has now confirmed this prediction to be true! This ice offers the potential of critical resources for future astronauts such as air, water, and even hydrogen rocket fuel," added the Google note with the doodle.
Just spotted the stunning Google Doodle for Chandrayaan-3! 🔵🚀 The search engine giant transformed its logo into an animated scene of the Moon, showcasing the Vikram Lander, Pragyan Rover, and Earth, with a special nod to India. 🌍🇮🇳 #Chandrayaan3 #GoogleDoodle pic.twitter.com/m3H6IbA2N4
— Anjali💙 (@AnjaliEarth) August 24, 2023
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
