- India took a giant leap on August 23 as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South Pole
- The ISRO chief Somanath earlier said that the space agency is ready to fulfil the vision put forth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bangalore, August 29. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on August 28 said that the Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyaan rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location on the lunar surface on August 27.
The space agency while sharing the images on X (formerly Twitter), said, “On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location.
The Rover was commanded to retrace the path. It’s now safely heading on a new path.”
ISRO said that the rover is now safely heading on a new path. Earlier on Sunday, ISRO said that of the Chandrayaan-3’s mission’s three objectives, two have been accomplished including demonstration of a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface and demonstration of rover roving on the moon.
It further said that the in-situ scientific experiments are underway while all the payloads are performing normally.
The Chandrayaan-3, for the first time ever in the history of world space science, profiled the soil of the south pole of the moon, its temperature variation up till 10cm beneath the surface.
ISRO shared a graph on the variation of the moon’s soil temperature at various depths.
“ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon’s surface.
It has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm beneath the surface. The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors,” it said.
The space agency had earlier shared the visuals of Pragyan rover roaming around the ‘Shiv Shakti’ Point, the landing point of Chandrayaan-3, on the lunar surface. It also rolled out over the surface of the Moon and covered a distance of 8 metres.
India took a giant leap on August 23 as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South Pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat and bringing to an end the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2, four years ago.
Overall, India became the fourth country – after the US, China, and Russia – to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface and first to land on the uncharted south pole of Earth’s nearest celestial neighbour.
The ISRO chief Somanath earlier said that the space agency is ready to fulfil the vision put forth by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“India has the capability to travel to the Moon, Mars and Venus but we need to increase our confidence. We need more investment and the space sector must develop and by this, the whole nation should develop, that is our mission. We’re ready to fulfil the vision that was given to us by PM Modi,” Somanath had said.
