NB Explains |Vikram lander makes soft-landing on Moon again; Know why

Chandrayaan-3 latest update: On Monday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander has “soft landed” on the lunar surface again after its initial landing on August 23 on the Moon’s south pole.

 

 

 

Sharing the update, ISRO wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Vikram soft-landed on Moon, again! Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 – 40 cm away."

 

Explaining the importance of the process, ISRO said, "Importance?: This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions! All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment. #Chandrayaan_3 #Ch3.”

 

Last week, on Saturday (September 2), ISRO shared that the Pragyan rover installed in Chandrayaan-3 has been put to sleep, and the Space Agency hopes to wake the rover up 14 days later, on September 22, 2023.

 

 

 

Sharing the update on X, ISRO said, “ISRO shared this update on X and wrote, “Sharing the latest update of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO wrote on X (Formerly known as Twitter), “The Rover completed its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into Sleep mode. APXS and LIBS payloads are turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander.”

 

“Currently, the battery is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador,” ISRO added.

 

Chandrayaan-3, equipped with Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, was launched on July 14 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 successfully did the soft landing on the south pole of the lunar surface on August 23.

 

The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission made India the fourth country in the world to perform a successful touchdown on the lunar surface and the first country to reach the uncharted south pole of the Moon.

 

Meanwhile, a sad update came in this morning (September 4) related to a scientist involved in the mission. Scientist N Valarmathi, the voice behind the Chandrayaan-3 mission launch countdown and many other ISRO rocket launches, passed away due to cardiac arrest on Saturday in Chennai.