ISRO shares video of Pragyan rover roaming around ‘Shiv Shakti’ Point

Indian Space Research Organisation has released a fresh video as the Pragyan rover on board the Chandrayaan-3 mission explores the lunar surface. The rover – which descended onto the moon aboard the Vikram lander has now rolled more than eight meters across the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3 landed successfully on the south pole of the moon earlier this week, with the site now named ‘Shiv Shakti’ point.

“Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti Point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole,” the space agency tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the Chandrayaan-3 landing site would be named ‘Shiv Shakti point’ with the landing date celebrated every year as National Space Day. The Vikram lander touched down on the unexplored lunar south pole on August 23.

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Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti Point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole 🌗! pic.twitter.com/1g5gQsgrjM

— ISRO (@isro) August 26, 2023

“In Shiv, there is resolution for the welfare of humanity and Shakti gives us strength to fulfil those resolutions. This Shiv Shakti point of the moon also gives a sense of connection with Himalayas to Kanyakumari,” the prime minister said while addressing Team ISRO on Saturday.

The space agency had earlier released a video of the Pragyan rover rolling out of Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander from a two-segment ramp as well as the deployment of the ramp and solar panel prior to the rolldown of the rover. The lander and the rover will operate and do their set tasks for one lunar day – equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

This week’s mission came four years after the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent – seen at the time as a huge setback for the country’s space programme. Chandrayaan-3 has a cost of $74.6 million – far lower than many missions from other countries and a testament to India’s frugal space engineering.