Latest From The Moon: ISRO Gives Pragyan Rover’s Health Update

Latest From The Moon: ISRO Gives Pragyan Rover’s Health Update

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New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday gave a health update on Pragyan rover. The Pragyan rover traversed a distance of around 8 metres and rover’s planned movements were verified, ISRO said.

Updated Aug 25, 2023 | 06:45 PM IST

Pragyan rover rolling out of Vikram lander. (Photo: X/ISRO)

Photo : Twitter

New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) on Friday gave a health update on Pragyan rover . The Pragyan rover traversed a distance of around 8 metres and rover’s planned movements were verified, ISRO said.
Tweeting about the update, ISRO gave heads up on Pragyan rover’s health and wrote, ” Chandrayaan-3 Mission: All planned Rover movements have been verified. The Rover has successfully traversed a distance of about 8 metres. Rover payloads LIBS and APXS are turned ON. All payloads on the propulsion module, lander module, and rover are performing nominally.”
Earlier today, ISRO released the first selfies taken by India’s lander Vikram and rover Pragyan from the moon ‘s surface, marking the arrival of the moment that a billion Indians have been anticipating with bated breath. As the Pragyan rover moved slowly, Vikram captured photographs and a video of its ramp.

India became first country to reach south pole of Moon and fourth nation to have successfully landed on the moon when Chandrayaan-3 made a soft landing on the moon at 6:04 PM on Wednesday. The most recent video released by ISRO shows the Pragyan rover emerging from the ground after roughly 4 hours.

The Pragyan rover’s initial track markings have now been permanently inscribed on the moon’s surface.

The colour video released by the Indian space agency also shows that the solar panel of the Pragyan rover is receiving sunlight and a beautiful shadow of the Pragyan rover can also be seen on the lunar surface.

Chandrayaan-3’s accomplishment is special as no other spacecraft has been able to achieve a soft landing near the moon’s South Pole. The south pole – far from the equatorial region targeted by previous missions, including the crewed Apollo landings – is full of craters and deep trenches.

On closer examination, it also shows that Vikram has landed in an area that seems relatively plain which should give Pragyan the opportunity to do its moonwalk.

The sunlight on the moon where Vikram has landed will last for 14 days, and the rover has already started a series of scientific experiments. The findings from the Chandrayaan-3 mission could advance and expand knowledge of lunar water ice, potentially one of the moon’s most valuable resources.

ISRO is likely to show even better media to PM Modi when he visits on Friday.

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