CHANDRAYAAN-3 mission’s Lander Module which touched down on the lunar surface, has rolled out the rover, Pragyan, with ISRO saying “India took a walk on the Moon”. On its official X handle, ISRO said the “rover ramped down.” “Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India--Made for the Moon! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the lander and India took a walk on the moon!,” it said. The Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) also said all the Lander Module(LM) payloads have been turned on.

 

“All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday,” it said in a post on X. President Droupadi Murmu congratulated the ISRO team for the successful deployment of Pragyan. “Its rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayaan 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”, she said. The lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan) -- with a total mass of 1,752 kg -- are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to study the surroundings there. However, ISRO officials do not rule out the possibility of them coming to life for another lunar day.