Watch Pragyan rover roaming on Shiv Shakti point

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared a new video of Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover travelling around the ‘Shiv Shakti’ Point, the landing site of Chandrayaan-3, on the lunar surface, on Saturday.

Pragyan rover on Shiv Shakti point:

Sharing the visuals on X (formerly Twitter), the Indian space agency stated, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: 🔍 What’s new here? Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti Point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole 🌗!”

The space agency also stated that two of the mission’s three objectives were met, including the demonstration of a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface and the demonstration of rover wandering on the Moon.

It went on to say that the in-situ scientific studies are ongoing and that all payloads are operating normally.

According to ISRO, the Pragyan rover rolled out across the Moon’s surface earlier on Friday and covered a distance of 8 metres. The rover’s back wheels, imprinted with the space agency ISRO and the Indian symbol, left faint marks on the lunar surface.

PM meets ISRO scientists:

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and thanked ISRO scientists today at the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network Mission Control Complex (ISTRAC), where he praised the Chandryaan-3 heroes who contributed to the successful lunar landing.

PM Modi declared that the touchdown spot of Chandrayaan 3 will be christened ‘Shiv Shakti’ while the site where Chandrayaan 2 left its footprints will be called ‘Tiranga’. He also declared August 23 as ‘National Space Day’ to commemorate Chandrayaan-3’s successful soft landing on the Moon.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander, dubbed ‘Vikram,’ landed on the uncharted lunar south pole on Wednesday, making India the first country to do so.

The objectives of Chandrayaan-3:

The lander module of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which included the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, made a gentle touchdown near the Moon’s south pole area at 6.04 p.m., just days after the Russian lander Luna-25 crashed.

The latest moon mission, a follow-up mission to the 2019 Chandrayaan-2, aims to accomplish three goals: to demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the Moon’s surface, which could not be accomplished during Chandrayaan-2, to demonstrate rover roving abilities on the moon’s surface, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

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