Bengaluru: "India took a walk on the moon," declared Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) as Chandrayaan-3's robotic rover smoothly rolled out of the lander and initiated mobility operations. The achievement came just a day after the historic landing on the uncharted lunar south pole. “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 chairman S. Somanath reported that the Vikram lander, carrying the Pragyan rover, touched down on the Moon's surface well within the designated area. “The lander landed perfectly on 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,” Somanath told.
Meanwhile, the 26-kg six-wheeled rover started its exploration of the lunar surface.
The Isro confirmed that all Lander Module (LM) payloads had been activated. In an update later that evening, Isro stated, "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."
In an earlier post, the space agency celebrated the successful ramping down of the rover, marking yet another milestone for Chandrayaan-3. This mission sets the stage for a series of upcoming endeavours, including the Mangalyaan-2 Mars Orbiter Mission, the Gaganyaan Human Spaceflight programme, and the Sun mission Aditya-L1.
Somanath expressed satisfaction with the rover's mobility, stating that the lander had landed precisely within the intended site. He also noted that all instruments on both the rover and lander had been sequentially activated. These instruments will be used to study the lunar mineral composition, atmosphere, and seismic activities.
The rover descended from the lander's belly, using one of its side panels as a ramp. The lander and rover, with a combined mass of 1,752 kilograms, are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to conduct experiments on the lunar surface. However, Isro officials haven't ruled out the possibility of them continuing to function for another lunar day. According to Somanath, as long as the sun shines, the systems will have sufficient power.
Meanwhile, the lander is yet to send any photographs from the Moon. However, it uploaded a video of the Moon’s surface just before it landed on the South Pole.
