Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Lander Successfully Lands on the Moon
Chandrayaan 3's Vikram lander and Pragyan rover achieve a historic soft landing on the moon, exploring its surface.
At 6.04 pm, Chandrayaan 3 soft-landed on the moon's south pole. The landing was shown live by ISRO and ISH News provided ISL interpretation for the entire live. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbl21WwUUaY
For the first time a space mission was made accessible to the Deaf. Deaf people across India were watching it along with hearing people. In schools, offices, at home everywhere. The communication link was established between Chandrayaan 3 Vikram Lander and MOX-ISTRAC Bengaluru. The lander took photos of the landing during the descent it sent to Earth. The Vikram lander is named for Vikram Sarabhai, considered the ‘father of the Indian space programme’. After it landed the Pragyaan Rover did not come out immediately. It waited for the moon dust to settle down. Once the dust settled, the process of rover Pragyan rolling out of the lander started. Pragyan descended at a speed of 1 centimeter per second and navigated with the help of a camera. The first photo of the rover rolling out of Vikram was sent to Earth. Now, Pragyan ramped down and took a walk. As the rover moved forward, it left the imprints of India's national symbol, the Ashoka Pillar, and the logo of ISRO. The Lander and the Rover have only 14 days for research work. Why will lander and rover work only during the day? The Lander and the Rover are both solar-powered. For this reason, they have to collect all the data in the light of day.Because the temperature at the south pole of the moon goes up to minus 238 degree Celsius. Machines do not work at such a low temperature. However, a possibility has been expressed that after 28 days, the rover and the lander will become active again on the moon. But, it will be known only then. If Rover will work, what will Vikram do? Actually, the real work will be done by the lander itself. But the lander won't move from the place of its landing. Rover 'Pragyan' will do all the movement on the moon's surface and collect data from wherever it passes. The instruments fitted in the rover's payloads will send data collected from the moon, such as lunar atmosphere, water, and mineral information, to the lander. There are 3 payloads on the lander. These payloads will detect the crust and mantle structures of the moon. Apart from this, it will also collect information about the density and temperature, as well as whether earthquakes strike the moon or not. The rover will communicate this data to the lander, sending it to Earth. It is premature to say how much distance the rover covers after coming on the moon's surface. It depends on the obstacles on the path, so it will be known only when the time comes. The mission has a total of seven payloads, six of which are ISRO’s while one is NASA’s Four aboard Vikram (lander), two on Pragyan (rover), and one on the propulsion module that carried the craft from the Earth into the Moon’s orbit. The Propulsion Module will be studying the Earth’s atmosphere from the lunar orbit using its lone payload. It will orbit the moon for a few months (or years), performing spectroscopy and polarisation studies on the Earth’s atmosphere and clouds, to gather biosignatures that could be used to identify habitable exoplanets. The module was expected to function for about 3 months but carries 150kg of fuel, which could give it a longer lifespan going into years. It's important to mention that as many as 54 women scientists/engineers are directly involved with the Chandrayaan-3 project. These women hold positions of "associate and deputy project directors and project managers of various systems.”
