Chandrayaan-3: ISRO Says All Activities on Schedule, Rover Mobility Operations Commenced

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday informed all activities of Chandrayaan-3, which landed on the moon’s south pole, are on schedule and all systems are normal.

The space agency said Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. It also said rover mobility operations have commenced.

India became the first country to land a spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, near the moon’s south pole on Wednesday — a historic voyage to uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water, and a technological triumph for the world’s most populous nation.

Chandrayaan-3: Moon Will Lose Sunlight in 14 Days. What Happens to Vikram & Pragyan Then? | Explainer

After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India now joins the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.

The lander Vikram with the rover Pragyan inside touched down on the lunar surface at 6:04 pm, sparking celebrations across India, including Bengaluru, where scientists of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) watching the landing erupted in cheers and applause.

Chandrayaan-3 is expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface. But what happens to the lunar mission and its components after 14 Earth Days?

HOW LONG IS CHANDRAYAAN-3 MISSION LIFE?

Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram and rover Pragyan are solar-powered and have a mission life of one lunar day or around 14 Earth days during which sunlight, critical to the mission, is continuously available. The latest sunlight cycle on the moon began on August 23, which is why ISRO targeted this day for the soft landing.

After 14 Earth days, the sun sets on the moon for another cycle, during which temperatures on lunar surface plummet to minus-180° Celsius, rendering any tech frozen and unusable.