The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar floor started a day after India grew to become the fourth nation to efficiently land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and across the nation. Photo: ISRO
Hours after the Pragyan lunar rover rolled out from the Vikram lander and took its first “walk on the moon” within the early hours of Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mentioned that the historic Chandrayaan-3 Mission was operating on schedule, with all programs working usually. Instruments aboard the lander and rover will now research the moon’s mineral composition and the seismic actions in its ambiance, in keeping with ISRO chairman S. Somanath.
The indigenous rover’s exploration of the lunar floor started a day after India grew to become the fourth nation to efficiently land on the moon, spurring euphoric celebrations at ISRO and across the nation.
‘Walk on the moon’
“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!” ISRO posted on social media platform X, on Thursday morning.
President Draupadi Murmu had made the primary announcement of the rover’s profitable deployment at 7 a.m. “Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon,” she posted.
‘All systems are normal’
Later within the night, ISRO added an replace on mission operations and the payloads aboard the lander. “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday,” it posted.
Dr. Somanath confirmed that the rover motion is going on and dealing very nicely. He informed the Press Trust of India that there are two devices within the rover and three devices on board the lander, and all of them have been switched on sequentially.
“They will study basically the mineral composition of the moon, as well as the atmosphere of the Moon and the seismic activities there,” he added.
‘Perfect landing’
Dr. Somanath additionally mentioned that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s lander Vikram had touched down on the moon’s floor nicely inside the space recognized for the aim.
“(The lander landed) perfectly in the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km — I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing,” he mentioned.
(with PTI inputs)
