What next for Chandrayaan-3? Pragyan rover rolls out for lunar experiments

Pragyan, the rover in the Chandrayaan-3 lander module, rolled out and set the stage for the on-board payloads to conduct scientific experiments through the next 14 days on the lunar surface.

“We’ll be checking the health conditions of the lander (Vikram). The Pragyan rover will come out in the next few hours; It could take one day as well, depending on the conditions,” ISRO Chairman S Somanath said after the lander module made a successful soft-landing on the moon.

The rover comes with “two important experiments”, both connected to the elemental and chemical composition of the surface of the moon.

The Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) will analyse the lunar surface and derive its chemical and mineralogical composition. The Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) comes with capabilities to determine the elemental composition (magnesium, aluminum, silicon, potassium, calcium, titanium and iron) of the lunar soil and rocks around the 4 km x 2.4 km landing site.

The four payloads on Vikram will measure parameters including surface plasma density, thermal properties, and seismicity around the landing site.

Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE), on board the propulsion module, is aimed at probing into a variety of exoplanets for potential habitability.