Entire India celebrated the successful landing of the Chandrayaan 3 on the moon on August 23, 2023 as it was the most difficult and the crucial part of the mission. All hailed the the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) as it managed to soft land the Chandrayaan-3 on the south pole of the moon and scripted history by becoming the first to do so.
But, does the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 on the moon means that the ISRO’s Lunar mission is over? The answer is no. Till now the mission’s focus was on to the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 as it was the most difficult task of the mission having that done the focus now shifts to the Pragyan rover which rolled out of the Vikram lander after few hours of the successful landing.
The Pragyan rover which was concealed in the belly of Vikram lander will now walk on the moon and explore the moon’s surface and examine the chemical composition of the lunar soil and rocks.
All About Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover
(Image Credit ISRO)
The name of the rover Pragyan is derived from Sanskrit word which means wisdom. Pragyan is a six-wheeled that enables it cover distances of up to 500 metres each Earth day across the Moon’s terrain. The Pragyan rover has two payloads, namely APXS and LIBS. The APXS or the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer will examine the mineralogical composition of moon surface. LIBS or the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope will determine the composition of Magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Potassium, Calcium, Iron and Titanium in the moon’s soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.
Now for the next 14 earth days or one lunar day, Pragyan will carry out a series of experiments on the surface of the moon and will send the data generated through those experiments to Vikram lander which in turn will send it to the Earth.
Since 1 day on moon is equivalent to 14 days on earth similarly the night at the moon spans for 14 earth days hence after the next 14 days the Pragyan rover and the Vikram lander will become inactive as they can only work under the sun. When it is night on the moon the weather conditions become extremly cold and hence making the environment unfavourable for lander and the rover’s functioning.
However, the scientists at ISRO expect that when the sun rises again after 28 days then it is highly possible for Vikram and Pragyan to get reactivated which will bonus reward for India’s lunar expedition.