Lunar odyssey Chandrayaan-3 lands safely: Rover to provide insights into unexplored zone
Shubhadeep Choudhary
New Delhi, August 23
As the Vikram lander waits for the dust to settle around its landing site, here’s what is next for the mission.
The Pragyan rover, housed within the Vikram lander, is poised to roll out by using one of the lander’s side panel as a ramp and hit the lunar terrain.
The primary mission of the rover is to undertake in-situ scientific experiments on the lunar surface. These experiments aim to unlock the mysteries of the moon’s geology, providing invaluable insights into its composition and history and throw light on the water frozen in the craters found in the shadowy region of the lunar south pole.
Data regarding water that could be found on the moon could be pivotal in addressing the challenges of lunar colonisation. The mission is also geared towards developing and demonstrating cutting-edge technologies essential for upcoming lunar endeavours.
The propulsion module, that is orbiting the moon following its separation from the lander module, carries the SHAPE (Spectro-polarimetry of Habitable Planet Earth) payload for studying the earth from moon. Researchers are extremely interested to study the data generated by SHAPE as it could throw light on what to look for while searching for habitable planets in space.
Experiments lined up
- Pragyan rover, housed within Vikram lander, is poised to roll out by using one of the lander’s side panel as a ramp and hit the lunar terrain
- Primary mission is to undertake in-situ scientific experiments on the lunar surface and provide insights into water frozen in the craters
