Chandrayaan -3: Pragyaan Rover takes a safe de-tour after locating a crater on the moon’s surface

India’s Pragyan Rover has taken a safe detour after it located a four-meter crater on the path it was following on the surface of the moon. Taking to X, ISRO tweeted, “Chandrayaan-3 Mission: On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location. The Rover was commanded to retrace the path. It's now safely heading on a new path.”

Fueled by solar power, the six wheeled Pragyan rover is expected to traverse the unchartered territory of the Southern pole of the moon, clicking pictures and collecting data over 1 lunar day, which is 14 days on earth. Nilesh M Desai, Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC) on Sunday said that India’s Pragyaan rover is racing against time. The ISRO scientists are trying to cover as much distance the six wheeler can cover in 14 days time.

The main objectives that are expected to be achieved through the lunar mission, Chandrayan 3- soft landing on the southern pole of the moon, release of the Pragyan rover from the Vikram Lander and its successful movement on the lunar surface and lastly, collection of scientific data through the payloads attached to the rover and the lander. "Our two main objectives have been accomplished successfully, but our third objective is underway”, said the Director of SAC.

ISRO claims that the data collected and transmitted so far is very promising in nature, the experiments that are being conducted on the lunar surface and its results is of great significance. Scientists say that Chandrayaan – 3 has recorded and will continue recording data that will bring about paradigm shifting changes in the field of astronomy.

Previously, ISRO released a detailed lunar graph of the temperature variation on the surface of the moon, with the increase in depth measured by the ChaSTE payload on board the Vikram Lander.

With the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, India became the first ever country to reach the Southern pole of the moon, and the 4th country to bag a successful lunar mission after Russia, the United States and China.