New Delhi:

India’s space agency has shared a video of the Pragyan rover being rotated on the Moon’s surface – remotely from the command centre in Bengaluru – in search of a route that avoids craters and rocks on the lunar surface. The rover and Vikram, the lander that carried Pragyan to the Moon, are racing to finish experiments before a lunar night (which lasts 14 Earth days) sets next week.

“The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera,” the Indian Space Research Organisation posted on X (formerly Twitter). “It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately…”

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera.

It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately.
Isn’t it?🙂 pic.twitter.com/w5FwFZzDMp

— ISRO (@isro) August 31, 2023

This latest update from the Moon comes a day after Pragyan shared an image of Vikram – the first using its NavCam, or navigation camera and the first since it was deployed. All visuals shared before were taken by the lander; happy ISRO scientists posted the “image of the mission” on X.

READ | “Smile, Please!”: Rover Pragyan Clicks Image Of Lander Vikram On Moon

Pragyan’s “Moon Walk” Video

On Monday too ISRO shared a “re-route” update from the Moon, noting Pragyan had been sent on a different, and safer, path, after coming face-to-face with a four-meter diameter crater.

READ | Rover Pragyan Faces Large Crater During Moon Walk, Sent On “New Path”

Pragyan Confirms Presence Of Sulphur Near Moon’s South Pole

One of the instruments on the rover – the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope – has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar surface near south pole, ISRO said Tuesday, adding that aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen had also detected.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

In-situ scientific experiments continue …..

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.… pic.twitter.com/vDQmByWcSL

— ISRO (@isro) August 29, 2023

ISRO said in-situ measurements revealed, “unambiguously”, the presence of sulphur – something not feasible using instruments onboard orbiters – and that they were now hunting for hydrogen.

India Makes Space History

The nation took a giant leap on August 23 after Chandrayaan-3’s module – Vikram – touched down; India became only the fourth country – after the United States, China, and Russia – to soft land on the moon’s surface – and the first to go as close as it did to the Moon’s South Pole.

India’s next big space mission is to launch on Saturday – Aditya L1 – which will orbit the Sun and observe solar activities and their effects on space weather in real time.