Chandrayaan-3 update: Pragyan rover moves 100 m from lander, both to be put to "sleep" to withstand lunar night

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday said the Pragyan rover, a critical part of the Chandrayaan 3 mission, has successfully traversed 100 meters on the Moon's surface.

It is to be noted Lander Vikram and Rover Pragyan, the two pivotal components of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, are in the final leg of their Lunar expedition. ISRO has planned to put them into hibernation, a process more commonly known as 'sleep' mode.

The rover is equipped with a number of scientific instruments, including a drill, a spectrometer, and a camera. These instruments will be used to study the composition of the Moon's surface, the history of the Moon, and the potential for resources on the Moon.

Pragyan travelled south after stepping out of the Vikram lander. The rover then travelled southeast, where it came across a massive lunar crater with a diameter of four metres. Fortunately, Pragyan retraced its steps to a safe region following a series of commands. Pragyan began travelling west after retracing its steps. Then it began to move northward.

"The good news is that the rover has moved almost 100 metres from the lander and we are going to start the process of making both of them sleep in the coming one or two days because they have to withstand the night," ISRO chief S Somnath said.

ISRO chief S Somnath announced the development following the picture-perfect launch of the Aditya L1 mission, India's maiden space-based solar observatory, on Monday.

The Aditya L1 mission, which was launched today, is designed to study the Sun's corona, the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere. The mission will use a number of instruments to study the corona, including a spectrometer, a coronagraph, and a magnetometer.

On Wednesday, Chandrayaan-3 mission's Pragyan rover clicked an image of the Vikram lander, ISRO said.

The 'image of the mission', shared by the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency, was taken by the Navigation Camera (NavCam) on board the rover.

The space agency said that the rover had detected the presence of sulphur on the South Pole and the hunt for hydrogen was underway.     

The ISRO said that preliminary analysis had unveiled the presence of Aluminum (Al), Sulphur (S), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), and Titanium (Ti) on the lunar surface. "Further measurements have revealed the presence of manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O). Thorough investigation regarding the presence of Hydrogen is underway."

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