The Chandrayaan-3 lander reached the lunar surface on Wednesday, making India the fourth country achieve soft-landing on the Moon. India also became the first country to land near the South pole of the Moon.
Two days after Chandrayaan-3 landed on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released Friday the first video of the rover moving on the lunar surface.
In an update later, the space agency confirmed that the rover had covered a distance of 8 metres on the lunar surface and the two science experiments it was carrying had also been switched on.
A two-segment foldable ramp on the lander module helped the rover roll down with a cord attached to it. The cord was retracted after the rover touched the surface of the Moon
As it was rolling out, a solar panel also opened up, allowing the rover to generate 50W power for its journey.
“All payloads on the propulsion module, lander module and rover are performing nominally,” it said.
Data collected by the rover is sent to the lander, which then communicates with the orbiter of the previous Chandrayaan mission.
The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter then transmits the data to Earth. With this, all experiments have now been turned on to collect data during the lunar day.
The instruments will carry out experiments and observations over the next two weeks. They are expected to become inactive once the lunar night descends because of lack of sunlight.
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