Chandrayaan-3 Mission: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday said that Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander made a second successful soft landing on the Moon. The space agency said that Vikram Lander has exceeded its mission objectives by successfully conducting a hop experiment on the lunar surface.
The lander fired its engines on command, elevated itself by approximately 40 cm and landed safely at a distance of 30 to 40 cm away.
"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," it said.
ISRO further said this achievement "kick-start enthuses future sample return and human missions." "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," ISRO added.
Last week Chandrayaan 3's Pragyaan Rover completed its assignments on the lunar surface and was safely put into "sleep mode". Taking to 'X', the space agency stated that, the rover's payloads - APXS and LIBS - are also turned off. Data from these payloads is transmitted to the Earth via the Lander, it stated.
India's lunar mission
It is pertinent to mention that India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6:04 pm on Wednesday, August 23. In a big boost to India's space prowess, the Lander Module comprising the lander (Vikram) and the rover (Pragyan), made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon, less than a week after a similar Russian lander crashed. The Rs 600 crore Chandrayaan-3 mission was launched on July 14 onboard Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM-3) rocket, for a 41-day voyage to reach near the lunar south pole.
