‘Chandrayaan-3 is not just for India,' says ISRO Chairman S Somanath after Pragyan rover begins its journey

S Somnath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in an exclusive interview with India Today TV, said that the success of Chandrayaan-3 is not just for India, it is an inspiration for the rest of the world.  

“PM Narendra Modi said that the mission is an inspiration for the entire world. It is not just for India. Our mission will inspire others to travel to the moon and explore it further. There is a renewed interest in exploring the southern part of the moon. We hope to explore natural resources of the lunar surface,” he said. 

He added that the Pragyan rover, which exited the Vikram Lander a few hours ago, is expected to carry out interesting exploration for the next 14 days. The rover will conduct experiments to study the Moon's geology, mineralogy, and atmosphere. 

ISRO in a message on X (formerly Twitter) said the moon rover of Chandrayaan-3 exited the spacecraft on Thursday morning to begin its exploration of the lunar surface.  

"The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon," ISRO shared, adding that more mission updates would be shared soon. 

Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander landed on the unexplored south pole of the moon on Wednesday evening, making India the first country to achieve that feat. 

“The rover is on the moon now. Now we have to move it further. It is expected to path planning and various experiments on the lunar surface. We need a lot of suitable factors for the experiments like ground visibility, ground station availability. Depending on this, we will decide our future course,” Somanath told India Today on Thursday.  

The primary mission of the Pragyaan rover is to undertake in-situ scientific experiments on the lunar surface. 

ISRO's lander and the rover are designed to operate for two weeks, which is approximately one lunar daylight period. It will be powered by solar panels and will communicate with the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter. 

The rover would study the surface of the moon through its payload APXS - Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer - to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance understanding of the lunar surface. 

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is ISRO's third lunar mission. The first, Chandrayaan-1, was launched in 2008 and operated for two years. The second, Chandrayaan-2, was launched in 2019 but failed to land on the Moon. 

Somanath added with the successful lunar landing ISRO is looking forward to their next challenging mission, one to investigate the Sun, the fiery core of our solar system, and one to the Venus. The Aditya-L1 spacecraft is undergoing preparations for its impending launch in September. 

ISRO is planning to send the Aditya-L1, which is a coronagraphy satellite, aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket to study the Sun. The primary objective of the mission is to position the Aditya-L1 spacecraft into a halo orbit encircling the first Lagrange point, L1, within the Sun-Earth system.

Also read: Chandrayaan-3: Rover Pragyan rolls out of Vikram lander; ISRO says 'India took a walk on the moon'

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