At 6:04 PM IST on Wednesday (23 August), ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on the moon’s surface, marking a significant milestone in the ascent of India’s contribution to space exploration. The Made-in-India Pragyan rover has swiftly moved out from the lander and has begun to walk on the moon officially marking India’s first steps on the lunar surface.
A picture of the rover coming from the lander was shared by INSPACE Chairman Pawan K Goenka. “First photo of Rover coming out of the lander on the ramp,” he tweeted.
"First photo of Rover coming out of the lander on the ramp", tweets Pawan K Goenka, Chairman of INSPACe
— ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2023
(Pic source – Pawan K Goenka's Twitter handle) pic.twitter.com/xwXKhYM75B
With this, ISRO has achieved two of the three main objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission which include demonstrating Safe and Soft Landing on the Lunar Surface, Rover roving on the moon, and conducting in-situ scientific experiments.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023
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
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu has lauded the feat saying that she looks forward to the mission’s completion with excitement.
I look forward with excitement…: President Murmu lauds ISRO after rollout of Pragyan rover on lunar South Pole
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) August 24, 2023
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/ybY3rY7YTT#Chandrayaan3 #DroupadiMurmu #ISRO #PragyanRover pic.twitter.com/ZHpQYNM0z3
The rover is tasked with carrying out in-situ (in the original place) chemical analysis of the lunar surface during its mobility. It is equipped with scientific payloads – Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) – for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of the landing site.
Although the mission life of the rover, weighing 26 kgs, is one lunar day (or 14 Earth days), its LIBS payload will conduct elemental analysis, derive the chemical composition, and infer mineralogical composition. The APXS payload will help determine the elemental composition of the Lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
During the briefing post-landing, ISRO Chairman S Somnath said that the rover will conduct two crucial experiments and that the next 14 days are very important.
“Instruments like RAMBHA will be deployed to study the charged atmosphere of the moon. ILSA payload will be lowered from the lander Vikram, touch the surface, and measure the seismic activity of the moon,” said the ISRO Chairman, beaming with pride.
The ISRO chief further said that two important experiments will be linked to the elemental and chemical composition of the moon’s surface. “The first experiment will take place by using the laser beam from the rover on the material, it will fuse it and then generate some spectroscopic information which will identify the elements over there. Another experiment is related to the Alpha particle which will be emitted by radioactive materials sitting there and that will generate certain X-ray fluorescence on the surface, and that will be measured to find the chemical composition.”
