Chandrayaan-3’s rover instruments are working very well and have done sampling of lunar regolith using laser-based instruments and alpha particle-based instruments, ISRO chief S Somanath said on Saturday. In an exclusive conversation with Business Today, Somanath said: “What we wanted to achieve through Prgyan has been achieved.”
“We are looking at building much more vast and more resilient Pragyan versions in the future. It’s a complex robotic mission because of its intelligence. We packed everything in such a small space to do our independent satellite work, just 35 kgs, far away on the Moon. “It’s a remarkable engineering piece.”
ISRO on Saturday released another video of Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover which can be seen taking a walk on the South Pole of the Moon. “Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole,” the space agency said while sharing the 40-second video.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Modi visited the ISRO’s command centre in Bengaluru and announced the name of the site where the Chandrayaan-3 landed on August 23. “The point where the moon lander of Chandrayaan-3 landed will now be known as ‘Shiv Shakti,” he said. “In Shiv, there is a resolution for the welfare of humanity and Shakti gives us strength to fulfill those resolutions. This Shiv Shakti Point of the moon also gives a sense of connection with Himalaya to Kanyakumari,” he said.
PM Modi also named the site where Chandrayaan 2 left its footprints. He said that point will now be called ‘Tiranga’.
On Wednesday evening as the Lander Module of Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully touched down on the lunar surface, Modi had joined the ISRO team at Mission Operations Complex (MOX) at ISTRAC virtually from South Africa.
Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon on August 23. The space agency has been sharing pictures and videos of the rover roving on the lunar surface. The ISRO on Friday shared a video showing how the ramp facilitated the roll-down of the rover.
