As India’s Third lunar mission successfully touched down as planned on 23rd August’s evening at 6.04 PM IST, with this our country has scripted history and became the first country to land a spacecraft at the Moon’s south pole. This is a region that has piqued the interests of scientists due to its distinctive features.
After the soft landing on the Moon, the 14 days of science observation of Chandrayaan-3 mission has begun. The Chandrayaan 3’s rover will now gather crucial information and images from the Moon roaming around the rocks and craters, and will send the data back to Earth for analysis.
On 24th August, ISRO’s space agency informed and said “Chandrayaan-3’s rover “ramped down” from the lander and “India took a walk on the Moon!”. As ‘Pragyaan’ (meaning wisdom in Sanskrit) touched the moon’s surface, here are five fascinating facts about the Chandrayaan- 3 mission.
1. Mission Life Of 14 Days
India’s Third Moon Mission launched from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on 14th July successfully touched down but do you know that Pragyan rover can only function for 14 days.
27.3 days on earth is equal to that of one full lunar day and 14 days on earth is the half day of the moon when the sun is visible there. As the rover is operational with the help of solar energy which can only be obtained in the day time as nights on Moon are freezing where the temperature falls upto -208 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s not possible for the rover to work in such extreme weather conditions.
2. Rover Will Imprint Indian Flag On Moon
Pragyan rover, a six-wheeled robotic vehicle has an imprint of India’s national flag and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) logo on its wheels which will leave an impression of India on ‘Regolith’ (Moon’s soil) .
3. Pragyan Lands On “South Pole” Of Moon
The 26 kg lunar rover rolled out on the south pole of the moon’s surface and became the first one to have done so. The south pole of the Moon is of special interest to scientists but do you know why?
Well, India’s 2008 Chandrayaan mission suggests that the region’s shadowed craters have strong evidence to hold greater concentrations of ice molecules, so it could be of critical importance for establishing human settlements on the moon.
4. The Mission Costs Less Than Most Hollywood Films
You will be amazed to know but it’s true that India’s Chandrayaan 3 moon mission has a total cost of 615 Crores which is less then most of the Hollywood movies releasing nowadays including recently released film Barbie which had a budget of $145 million.
Not only this, it even costs less than Indian film ‘Adipurush’ which cost 700 crores.
Former journalist Cindy Pom tweeted, “Kinda crazy when you realize India’s budget for Chandrayaan-3 ($75M) is less than the film Interstellar ($165M)”
5. The Rover To Gather Some Crucial facts From Moon
The main Reason why the Indian Space Research Organisation Launched Chandrayaan-3 is to collect data from there. As The Vikram lander carrying Pragyan in its belly opened up after four hours, the rover came down on the Moon’s surface and took a walk on the Moon.
Pragyan, with the help of a navigation camera, will walk at a speed of 1 centimeter per second. .As the Rover Will explore lunar soil, rocks, chemicals on the moon and collect new information and images, from the Moon’s surface, the rover will communicate this data to the lander, which will send it on earth.
With Chandrayaan-3, India created history that will remain unforgettable forever.
