Pragyaan, India’s lunar rover, takes a stroll on the Moon.
On Thursday, India launched a rover to investigate the Moon’s surface, a day after becoming the first country to land a ship near the relatively unexplored lunar south pole.
Pragyan, which means “Wisdom” in Sanskrit, slid out of the lander hours after the latest milestone in India’s ambitious yet low-cost space program ignited nationwide jubilation.
The lander was ramped down by Rover, and India took a stroll on the moon! On Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) tweeted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Over the course of two weeks, the six-wheeled, solar-powered rover will amble around the relatively unmapped region, transmitting photographs and scientific data.
The Chandrayaan-3 (“Mooncraft-3”) mission successfully landed just days after a Russian lander crashed in the same zone.
It also comes four years after the previous Indian lunar mission crashed during its final descent, causing a severe setback for the country’s space effort at the time.
India, on the other hand, is slowly matching the achievements of established spacefaring nations.
Since its debut in front of thousands of applauding onlookers approximately six weeks ago, Chandrayaan-3 has captured the public’s interest.
Politicians organized Hindu prayer ceremonies to wish the mission success, while students watched the closing seconds of its fall via live classroom broadcasts.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the successful lunar landing, previously accomplished only by the United States, Russia, and China, was a triumph for “all of humanity.”
Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX leads in commercial space missions, described the landing as “super cool.”
The Indian expedition took significantly longer to reach the Moon than the Apollo missions, which arrived in a couple of days in the 1960s and 1970s.
Chandrayaan-3 was launched on a weaker rocket and had to orbit the Earth numerous times before beginning its month-long voyage.
Future objectives
India has a very low-budget space program that has increased significantly in size and speed since it first put a probe into orbit around the Moon in 2008.
The cost of Chandrayaan-3 is $74.6 million, which is significantly less than the cost of many previous missions and a tribute to India’s thrifty space engineering.
According to experts, India can keep prices low by replicating and modifying existing technology, as well as by employing a large number of highly trained engineers who earn a fraction of their overseas counterparts’ pay.
India became the first Asian country to place a spaceship in orbit around Mars in 2014, and it wants to send a probe toward the sun in September.
By next year, ISRO plans to conduct a three-day crewed trip into Earth’s orbit.
It also intends to launch a cooperative expedition to the Moon with Japan by 2025, as well as an orbital mission to Venus within the following two years.
India celebrates
NEW DELHI, 24 AUGUST (Reuters) – The moon rover of India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft departed the spacecraft on Thursday to begin exploring the lunar surface and conducting experiments to aid future missions, as the media hailed the historic landing as the country’s most significant scientific achievement.
The spacecraft landed on the moon’s unexplored south pole on Wednesday evening, only days after Russia’s Luna-25 failed, making India the first country to do so.
After a failed effort in 2019, the smooth, perfect touchdown by the lander triggered widespread excitement and celebration in the world’s most populated country.
The Ch-3 Rover descended from the Lander, and India set foot on the moon! In a post on X, previously Twitter, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the launch.
ISRO chairman S. Somanath stated that the “Pragyan” rover was equipped with two sensors for element and chemical composition research.
More than that, it will move on the surface, and we will conduct a robotic path planning exercise, which is critical for future exploration, Somanath told the Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority investment.
This was India’s second effort to land on the moon, with a budget of around 6.15 billion rupees ($75 million). A previous project, Chandrayaan-2, launched an orbiter in 2019, but its lander collapsed.
Chandrayaan translates to “moon vehicle” in both Hindi and Sanskrit. When its solar-powered equipment is made to survive, Chandrayaan-3 is planned to be operational for two weeks, which equals one lunar day.
The moon’s mountainous south pole is desired for its water ice, which is thought to be capable of delivering fuel, oxygen, and drinking water for future expeditions, but its severe terrain makes landing difficult.
THE EUPHORIC INDIA
On Wednesday, people from all around the country tuned in to see the landing, with roughly 7 million people watching the YouTube live broadcast alone.
Prayers were also said at places of religion, while schools hosted live screens of the show for pupils.
Apart from enhancing India’s stature as a space power and its reputation for cost-effective space engineering, the landing is viewed as a huge source of national pride.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has been congratulated by everyone since Wednesday evening, and that the successful landing was seen by the globe as the victory of all mankind, not just one nation.
It is a source of pride and satisfaction for Indian scientists, Modi remarked on Thursday at the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg.
The moon is Indian, India travels where no nation has gone before, and India lights up the dark side of the moon, among other headlines in Indian media.
The lunar landing is the most significant Indian scientific achievement, according to an editorial in the Times of India.
There is just one reason why India is currently in a position to reap the benefits of a surge in interest in basic sciences, according to ISRO.
