Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, August 24: Following the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Pragyan rover from the Indian Space Research Organisation was successfully deployed on the Moon on Thursday.
This occurred just hours after Chandrayaan-3, India’s third lunar mission, wrote history on Wednesday night when the Vikram lander landed on the moon’s surface.
ISRO posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that, “The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon,” adding that additional mission details would be given shortly.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
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 !More updates soon.#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3
— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023
The rover, which is approximately the size of a microwave oven, can move across the lunar surface up to a distance of 500 meters (1,640 feet). It will conduct experiments to investigate the atmosphere, geology and mineralogy of the Moon.
India’s third moon mission is called Chandrayaan-3. Chandrayaan-1, the first, was launched in 2008 and operated for two years. Chandrayaan-2, the second, was launched in 2019 but was unable to touch down on the moon.
India has become the fourth nation to softly land on the Moon after China, the Soviet Union and the United States due to Chandrayaan-3’s successful mission.
The Pragyan rover was the first of its kind to be set up on the southernmost pole of the Moon. It is outfitted with a range of tools, including a magnetometer, a camera and a spectrometer. The Moon’s surface, including its composition, mineralogy and history, will be studied through experiments by the rover.
The Pragyan rover is expected to operate for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days. It will be powered by solar panels and will communicate with the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter.
