Chandrayaan-3 mission update: Vikram lander takes a hop on Moon, soft lands successfully again

New Delhi: Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander successfully underwent a hop experiment, announced the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday.

ISRO said that it commanded the Vikram Lander to fire its engines again, raising itself by about 40 cm and, made it land safely at a distance of 30 - 40 cm away.

Taking to X, ISRO wrote: “Vikram soft-landed on Moon, again!”

“Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment.”

“On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 – 40 cm away.”

ISRO explained the importance of this experiment: “This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions!”

“All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment,” ISRO added.

Earlier on Saturday night, ISRO put Pragyan Rover on sleep mode to overcome the minus climate till they next get sunlight again on September 22.

The lander and the rover, with a mission life of one Lunar day (14 Earth days), have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface. Since its landing on the Moon on August 23, they have carried out many in-situ measurements and taken pictures.

“The lander and the rover will stay on the Moon for 14 days until they get sunlight. When there is no sunlight, a small solar panel, which is on the rover, will generate power to charge the battery for the next 14 days until they get sunlight,” ISRO Chairman Somanath has said.

Once the Sun sets on the Moon, temperature can plunge below minus 200 degree Celsius.

“The temperature there goes down to -200 minus degrees. In such an environment, there is no guarantee that the battery, electronics will survive, but we did some tests and we get the feeling that they will survive even in such harsh conditions,” Mr Somnath had said. (Inputs from UNI)