World's First Indian Lunar South Pole Exploration Robot, Exploring While Moving 100m

India's lunar exploration robot Pragyan, which is the world's first to explore the lunar south pole, is reported to have moved about 100 meters since landing and is currently active.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released a photo on the 29th of last month showing the Chandrayaan-3 exploration rover Pragyan retracing its path and heading in a safe direction.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 2nd (local time), according to local media, S. Somanath, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced the news about Chandrayaan-3 while concluding the live broadcast of the launch of India's first solar observation satellite 'Aditya L1'.

Chairman Somanath said, "The good news is that the exploration robot (Pragyan) has moved about 100 meters from the lander (Vikram)," adding, "We will begin procedures to put both of them to sleep for a day or two." As the mission end time for Vikram and Pragyan approaches, they plan to pause activities for a day or two to prepare them to survive the lunar night after the mission ends.

They are scheduled to carry out their mission for about 14 days, which corresponds to one lunar day, following the landing. The mission is expected to conclude around the 7th. Afterward, they are designed to remain on the lunar surface and be sustained by energy generated from solar panels.

Chairman Somanath explained that if they continue to operate after the official mission end, ISRO will continue to collect information from them.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.