Shiv Shakti Point

Shiv Shakti Point is the official name assigned to the touchdown location of the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Vikram lander, which executed a soft landing on the Moon on 23 August 2023 during the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The naming authority for surface features and locations on celestial bodies rests with the International Astronomical Union (IAU), specifically its Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN), which maintains the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the proposed name on 26 August 2023 during a visit to ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru, three days after the landing. The IAU formally approved the designation on 19 March 2024, entering it into the official gazetteer as "Statio Shiv Shakti" — the Latin term statio (station) being the convention used for crewless and crewed landing sites, paralleling "Statio Tranquillitatis" assigned to the Apollo 11 site in 1969.

The procedural path from an announced name to an IAU-ratified one is structured and multi-stage. After a mission achieves a landing, the operating agency or national astronomical body submits a proposed name to the relevant IAU task group — for the Moon, this falls under the Lunar Nomenclature Task Group within the WGPSN. The submission must conform to the IAU's nomenclature rules: names should be simple, clear, unambiguous, free of political or religious connotation in principle (though landing-site stationes are treated with latitude), and not duplicate existing features. The task group reviews the proposal, checks it against the gazetteer for conflicts, and forwards a recommendation. Final approval is granted by the WGPSN, after which the name acquires official international standing and appears on subsequent lunar maps and coordinate databases. Shiv Shakti Point is located at approximately 69.37° south latitude and 32.32° east longitude, in the high-latitude region between the Manzinus C and Simpelius N craters on the near side.

A parallel naming occurred in the same announcement: the point where the Chandrayaan-2 mission's lander crash-landed on 7 September 2019 was designated "Tiranga Point," and 23 August was declared India's National Space Day. The name Shiv Shakti was explained by the Prime Minister as a composite evoking both Shiva and Shakti, with an additional gloss connecting "Shakti" to the contribution of women scientists to the mission. The IAU's acceptance of an explicitly culturally resonant name reflects a long-standing practice of permitting nations to name their own landing sites, comparable to China's "Statio Tianhe" for Chang'e-5 and the Soviet-era Luna landing designations.

Chandrayaan-3 itself made India the fourth country to achieve a soft lunar landing — after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China — and the first to land in the lunar south-polar region. The mission was launched on 14 July 2023 aboard an LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The landing carried the Pragyan rover, which traversed the surface conducting in-situ measurements, including confirmation of sulphur and detection of other elements via its laser-induced breakdown spectroscope and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. The south-polar location is strategically significant for science because permanently shadowed craters in the region are believed to harbour water ice, a resource central to future crewed exploration and to the United States-led Artemis programme framework.

Shiv Shakti Point should be distinguished from several adjacent concepts. It is not a crater or natural landform but a designated station marking a human-made event, in contrast to lunar features named after scientists (e.g., crater Tycho) under different naming conventions. It is distinct from the mission name Chandrayaan-3 and from the lander name Vikram, named after Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space programme. It also differs from a "landing ellipse" — the pre-mission targeted zone of probable touchdown — being instead the single confirmed coordinate of actual contact. Practitioners tracking space-policy nomenclature should note the difference between the colloquial English form "Shiv Shakti Point" and the formal Latin gazetteer entry "Statio Shiv Shakti."

The naming generated limited domestic political contestation in India, with some opposition voices questioning the religious framing of an ostensibly scientific achievement. Internationally, however, the IAU approval was uncontroversial, as the body treats landing-site names within the discretion historically afforded to operating nations. A broader policy debate persists around the absence of a binding multilateral regime for lunar surface activity: the 1967 Outer Space Treaty prohibits national appropriation of celestial territory, meaning the naming of Shiv Shakti Point confers no sovereignty or property right whatsoever. The non-binding Artemis Accords, which India signed on 21 June 2023 — weeks before the launch — address coordination of operations and "safety zones," but a comprehensive governance framework for overlapping lunar interests remains undeveloped, a gap of growing relevance as multiple nations target the resource-rich south pole.

For the working practitioner — particularly UPSC aspirants preparing General Studies Paper III on science and technology, and desk officers tracking India's space diplomacy — Shiv Shakti Point functions as a compact reference point for several examinable themes: India's emergence as a major spacefaring power, the institutional role of ISRO and the IAU, the legal limits of the Outer Space Treaty, and the strategic competition for the lunar south pole. It also illustrates how scientific achievements are converted into instruments of national prestige and soft power, a recurring dynamic in contemporary statecraft that analysts must read alongside the technical milestones.