Chandrayaan-3: ISRO Shares New Footage Revealing Pragyan Rover’s Lunar Roll-Out
25 August, 2023 | Anamika Singh Parihar
ISRO unveils video of Pragyan rover deployment and lunar traversal on the surface of the moon.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently unveiled a video depicting the Pragyan rover’s deployment from the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander, followed by its traversal across the lunar terrain. The video showcases the rover sporting the Indian national flag on its back during its lunar expedition.
According to the LVM3-M4/Chandrayaan-3 mission on the X platform, “Chandrayaan-3 rover ramped down from the Lander to the Lunar surface”.
Earlier, ISRO had released imagery captured by Chandrayaan-2’s Orbiter High-Resolution Camera, spotlighting the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram on the moon’s surface on August 23.
Upon touchdown, both the lander and rover will undertake their designated tasks for the duration of one lunar day, equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
India achieved a significant milestone as the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touched down on the moon’s South Pole, marking the nation’s first accomplishment in contrast to the Chandrayaan-2’s unfortunate crash landing four years ago. This achievement positions India as the fourth country to achieve a successful lunar landing, following the USA, China, and Russia.
The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, on July 14.
Chandrayaan-3’s primary objectives included a safe and gentle moon landing, rover mobility on the lunar surface, and on-site scientific experiments. The mission faced an unforeseen delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The allocated budget for Chandrayaan-3 is Rs 250 crore, excluding the launch vehicle costs.
The Chandrayaan-2 mission was considered partially successful as the lander lost communication after a hard landing. However, ISRO recently achieved a breakthrough by establishing two-way communication between the Chandrayaan-3 lander module and the still operational Chandrayaan-2 orbiter earlier this week.
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