Chandrayaan-3: How Pragyan rover is faring on the Moon

India took a giant leap on 23 August when Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the south pole of the Moon. Not only is India now the first to explore the unchartered terrain of the lunar surface, but also the fourth to ever achieve a soft-landing on it. And just days after landing, the Chandrayaan-3 mooncraft, consisting of its lander, Vikram, and rover, Pragyaan, are hard at work, relaying information and data back to ISRO headquarters down on earth. ISRO Chairman, S Somnath, also told the media that all was well with the mission – which will last for the next 14 days. “Everything is working very well. Chandrayaan-3, the lander, the rover is very healthy and all the five instruments on board have been switched on. And it’s giving beautiful data now,” said S Somnath. “We are hoping that in the days to come next another 10 more days remaining before 3 September, we should be able to complete all the experiments with its full capability of various modes. There are different modes for which it has to be tested… So we have the best picture ever of the Moon,” he added. We take a closer look at all that the Chandrayaan-3 mission has achieved so far after its Moon landing and the significance of it. Surviving craters Days after landing on the Moon, Chandrayaan-3’s rover, Pragyan, has been set on a new path, said ISRO on Monday. The change in route came after the rover came face-to-face with a four-metre crater. ISRO said on X that rover had spotted the crater a safe three metres from the edge and had been directed to a safer path.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location.
The Rover was commanded to retrace the path.

It's now safely heading on a new path.#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/QfOmqDYvSF

— ISRO (@isro) August 28, 2023

This news comes days after the space agency said on Sunday that Pragyan had survived its first obstacle – a lunar crater that is 100 mm (10 cm) deep. Speaking to the Times of India, Chandrayaan-3 project director P Veeramuthuvel said, “We were very anxious about the first crater, but that obstacle has been overcome.” This is significant as it shows that the lunar surface is highly uneven. ISRO’s Veeramuthuvel has further explained that the rover operations are not fully autonomous. Pragyan’s movements face numerous challenges that require the involvement of ground teams to overcome them one by one. [caption id=“attachment_13049362” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People celebrate as they watch a live telecast of the landing og Chandrayaan-3, in Mumbai. AP[/caption] Temperatures of lunar soil On Sunday, data from the Vikram lander’s Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) payload was also released, which gave scientists an insight into temperatures on the lunar surface. In a post, ISRO explained that ChaSTE “measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the Moon’s surface”. The space agency explained that the payload has a probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism that can reach 10 cm beneath the surface. It also shared the graph on the temperature variations on the lunar surface and the near-surface at various depths.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Here are the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram Lander.

ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon's… pic.twitter.com/VZ1cjWHTnd

— ISRO (@isro) August 27, 2023

In the graph, the temperatures range from -10 degree Celsius to 60 degree Celsius. The surface temperature is around 50 degree Celsius, and 8 cm down, the temperature is minus 10 as shown in the graph. This information gives a clearer picture of how the temperature changes beneath the Moon’s surface. Scientists said a high of 70-degree Celsius temperature near the surface was not expected. “We all believed that the temperature could be somewhere around 20-degree to 30-degrees Celsius on the surface but it is 70-degrees Celsius. This is surprisingly higher than what we had expected,” ISRO scientist BH Darukesha told news agency PTI.

Catch our full coverage on Chandrayaan-3 mission here _Over the Moon: Meet the team behind India’s Chandrayaan-3_ _How India’s Moon mission will be a game-changer for the economy_ _What will the lander and rover do after landing on Moon?_ _How Chandrayaan-3 has left an imprint of the national emblem on the Moon_ _Chandrayaan-3 costs lesser than big films: How India keeps its space missions frugal_ Shiv Shakti, Jawahar Sthal: How are spots on the Moon named?

The scientist further explained that on earth when drilling takes place a few centimetres below the surface, temperature variations are low – around two to three degrees Celsius, unlike what they have discovered on the Moon. The temperature findings also reveal that the lunar soil is a bad conductor of heat. These initial observations will provide insights into how the lunar surface responds to temperature variations, thereby aiding in understanding the processes that shaped the Moon’s terrain over millions of years. [caption id=“attachment_13049212” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People watch the landing of Chandrayaan-3 at Omani University in Hyderabad. India has landed a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole, an unchartered territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water and precious elements, as the country cements its growing prowess in space and technology. AP[/caption] Lights, camera, action! Just a day after Chandrayaan-3 soft-landed on the Moon, work began in earnest and the space agency shared images of the pockmarked surface near the lunar south pole. The first set of four images were taken by the lander’s Horizontal Velocity Camera as it was nearing the surface of the Moon. An additional image from the Landing Imager Camera, shared a little later, shows a glimpse of the landing site, including a portion of the spacecraft’s landing leg and its shadow.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
The image captured by the
Landing Imager Camera
after the landing.

It shows a portion of Chandrayaan-3's landing site. Seen also is a leg and its accompanying shadow.

Chandrayaan-3 chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface 🙂… pic.twitter.com/xi7RVz5UvW

— ISRO (@isro) August 23, 2023

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Commenting on the images, S Somanath said on Sunday that India has the “best picture of the Moon”. “They are precious commodities and they are not available anywhere in the world. Nobody has such close-proximity photos. They will all come but a little later because they all have to come to our computer centre,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_13049222” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] This image from video provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation shows the surface of the moon. AP[/caption] Fate of Chandrayaan-3 As of now, the mission life of Chandrayaan-3’s lander Vikram and rover Pragyan is one lunar day, which is equal to 14 days on the Earth. ISRO’s chairman explained why this was the case. Speaking to the media, he explained that as long as the sun shines, all the systems will have its power. “The moment the sun sets, everything will be in pitch darkness, temperature will go as down as low as minus 180 degree Celsius. So it is not possible for the systems to survive.” Upon the completion of the lunar mission, neither the lunar module containing Vikram and Pragyan, nor the propulsion module will find their way back to Earth. They will continue to reside on the Moon only. With inputs from agencies