Chandrayaan-3: Pragyan Rover Heads To New Path After Encountering 4-meter Crater | Latest Updates

Pragyan, the rover aboard Chandrayaan-3 is safely heading to a new path, after it encountered a 4-meter diameter crater on its earlier route, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said.

The rover was commanded to retrace its path after this. This comes after it negotiated its first lunar obstacle. According to the latest reports, Pragyan managed to traverse a lunar crater with a depth of around 100 mm.

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Sunday shared observations made by ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram Lander on the lunar surface.

According to the space agency, ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the “temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon’s surface”.

“It has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm beneath the surface. The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors, ” ISRo said in an X post.

Meanwhile, ISRO chief S Somnath on Sunday said that “India has the best picture of the Moon”.

Latest Updates on Chandrayaan-3 Mission

• The Pragyan rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location, and therefore it was commanded to retrace its path. It’s now safely heading on a new path, ISRO said.
• The Pragyan rover managed to cross the first obstacle on the surface of the Moon. It traversed a lunar crater with a depth of around 100 mm. The Pragyan rover’s movements are not fully autonomous and are controlled from Bengaluru.

• ISRO on Sunday shared a graph showing the “temperature variations of the lunar surface/near-surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe’s penetration”.

“This is the first such profile for the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway, ” the space agency said.

• ISRO chief S Somnath on Sunday told reporters that “India has the best picture of the Moon”.
• “We have the closest picture of the real regolith. They are precious commodities and they are not available anywhere in the world. Nobody has such close proximity photos. They will all come but a little later because they all have to come to our computer centre, Indian Spacecraft and Exploration Mission Data Centre. From there, scientists will take and do a huge amount of valuation,” the ISRO chief was quoted by TOI as saying.
• S Somnath further said the Chandrayaan-3 lander and the rover are “very healthy and five instruments on board them are working fine”.
• The space agency is hoping to complete all experiments before September 3.
• “We are hoping that in the days to come, another 10 days remaining (of the lunar day) before September 3, we should be able to complete all the experiments, ” ISRO chief added.