India's Pragyan rover takes walk on lunar surface

The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Pragyan rover was successfully deployed on the Moon on August 24, after the successful soft landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.

This comes hours after India’s third lunar mission, Chandrayaan-3, scripted history as Vikram lander touched down on the Moon surface on the evening of August 23, India Today writes.

"The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon," said ISRO in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), adding that more mission updates would be shared soon.

The rover, which is about the size of a microwave oven, is designed to travel up to 500 metres on the lunar surface. It will conduct experiments to study the Moon's geology, mineralogy, and atmosphere.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission is India'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.

The successful landing of Chandrayaan-3 makes India the fourth country to soft land on the Moon, after the United States, the Soviet Union, and China.

The Pragyan rover is the first of its kind to be deployed on the Moon's south pole. It is equipped with a variety of instruments, including a camera, a spectrometer, and a magnetometer. The rover will conduct experiments to study the Moon's surface, including its composition, mineralogy, and history.

The Pragyan rover is expected to operate for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days. It will be powered by solar panels and will communicate with the Chandrayaan-3 orbiter.