“Chandrayaan-3 ROVER: Made in India. Made for the MOON! The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!,” the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) happily reported today in a tweet. It promised more updates to come — soon.
Chandrayaan-3’s lander is named “Vikram,” in honor of Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian space program, who made major contributions to the development of science in multiple fields in India. He founded the Indian National Committee for Space Research in 1962, which evolved into the ISRO in 1969.
The rover was named Pragyan, which means wisdom or supreme intelligence in Sanskrit.
Two of the three Chandrayaan-3 mission objectives have now been met: “to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface,” and “to demonstrate rover roving on the moon.” The third objective, “to conduct in-situ scientific experiments,” is being readied. A more detailed breakdown of the mission;s objectives are set forth here: https://www.isro.gov.in/Chandrayaan3_Details.html
