With the Sun now in view at their landing site, ISRO has yet to hear back from Chandrayaan-3’s lunar lander and rover. While ISRO will continues to ping the spacecraft, time is running out before another lunar night arrives.
Expand Expanding Close
India’s lunar lander and rover have completed its main missions and have now moved on to secondary goals, one of which will see if it can survive the lunar night. The other was a bold hop across the surface to gather science in some slightly different pastures.
Expand Expanding Close
It’s been an entire week since Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon, putting India in a small club of those who can do it. Since then ISRO has been sharing photos from its lander and rover, as well as some early science results. On Wednesday, ISRO treated us to a photo of the Chandrayaan-3 lander, on the surface of the Moon, courtesy of the small rover that tagged along for the ride.
Expand Expanding Close
In a watershed moment for India’s space program, on Wednesday, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully touched down at the unexplored lunar south pole. This is the first time any country has visited this area of the Moon.
Update: The Pragyan rover has rolled off the Vikram lander. Due to the amount of dust kicked up upon the touchdown of the Vikram lander, the rollout of the rover was delayed.
Expand Expanding Close