Title: Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover Faces Delays and Challenges in Lunar Exploration
The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Pragyan rover is encountering unexpected obstacles on its lunar expedition due to visibility issues caused by the unavailability of the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex. Nilesh M. Desai, the Director of the Space Applications Centre (SAC), shared that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had anticipated moving the rover 30 meters per day, but it has only managed to cover 12 meters thus far.
The cautious movement of the Pragyan rover is essential, as the treacherous lunar surface poses numerous challenges, including potentially jeopardizing the rover’s progress with its notorious craters. Equipped with two payloads—the Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)—the rover was deployed on the Moon’s surface on August 24. These instruments play a crucial role in analyzing the composition of lunar soil.
Alongside the Pragyan rover, the mission’s lander, Vikram, carries four instruments designed for thermal, seismic, atmospheric studies, and lunar ranging. Nevertheless, time is of the essence as the lander and rover only have a limited 14-day power supply. Any revival of payloads beyond this period would be considered an impressive achievement.
Vikram’s ChaSTE experiment has already provided valuable insights into the lunar environment, showing temperature variations ranging from 50°C on the surface to a chilling -10°C just below 10 cm. The data collected by Vikram, combined with the Pragyan rover’s exploration, will contribute significantly to the analysis and understanding of the Moon’s mysterious surface.
Despite the progress made, the Pragyan rover continues to face potential challenges during the extremely cold lunar nights, where temperatures plummet to staggering lows of -120°C to -150°C. The likelihood of the rover’s revival after these frigid conditions remains uncertain, requiring further assessments and observations.
As the Chandrayaan-3 mission strives to overcome the delays and challenges encountered by the Pragyan rover, the ISRO remains committed to unlocking the Moon’s secrets and advancing our understanding of Earth’s celestial neighbor. The entire world eagerly awaits further updates on this groundbreaking lunar exploration endeavor.
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