Rover Pragyan takes a walk on moon: ‘Made in India, made for moon’

Rover Pragyan has ramped down from Vikram lander and has taken a walk on the moon, the Isro tweeted in the first development of Chandrayaan 3 after the successful and historic soft launch on the south pole of the moon.

“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 tweeted.

After the successful landing at 6.04pm on Wednesday, Chandrayaan 3 waited for the lunar dust to settle down. The process of Pragyan rover — which was attached to the belly of Vikram lander — rolling out started and it came out. The first picture of Pragyan coming out of Vikram has been shared by Pawan K Goenka, the chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre.

Chandrayaan 3 moon landing: What happened in last 12 hours

At 6.04pm, Chandrayaan 3 soft-landed on the south pole of the moon. It chose a flat region on the lunar surface for the landing. It sent a photo of the landing site captured by the landing imager camera.

The communication link was established between Chandrayaan 3 lander and MOX-ISTRAC Bengaluru. The lander took some photos of the landing during the descent which it sent to earth.

Then the process of rover Pragyan rolling out of the lander started.

The first photo of the rover rolling out of Vikram was sent to earth.

Now, Pragyan ramped down and took a walk.

What is Pragyan rover? What will it do on the moon now?

Pragyan rover will now carry out a series of experiments on the lunar surface for the next 14 days and send those data to the lander. It weighs 26kg and has two payloads. One will analyse the chemical composition of the lunar surface, another will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.