The Pragyan rover has rolled out from the Vikram lander and will now start moving around on the lunar surface, marking a successful next stage hours after Chandrayaan-3 made its historic landing on the Moon, ISRO sources said Thursday.
Editorial | On the moon, over the moon
President Droupadi Murmu congratulated ISRO for the successful deployment of Pragyan rover.
"I once again congratulate the ISRO team and all fellow citizens for successful deployment of Pragyan-rover from inside Vikram-lander. Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon," President Droupadi Murmu posted on X Thursday morning.
ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said on Thursday, that the the rover would carry out two important experiments. It has two payloads — the LASER Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS). The objectives of the LIBS are to conduct qualitative and quantitative elemental analysis and to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further our understanding of the lunar surface.
The APXS will determine the elemental composition of lunar soil and rocks around the landing site.
India became the fourth country to successfully land on the moon as the Chandrayaan-3’s lander module, with the rover in its belly, successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface on Wednesday.
