Chandrayaan-3: how Pragyan rover will leave India's mark on Moon

Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan rover will literally leave a mark on the Moon. According to multiple media reports, the rover will imprint the national emblem and ISRO’s logo on the lunar surface.

The rear wheels of the Pragyan rover have been embossed with ISRO's logo and the national emblem. As the equipment explores the lunar surface it will leave India's mark on the Moon.

India’s lunar rover is carrying Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope. The rover weighs about 25 kilograms and is about the size of a golden retriever, news agency PTI reported.

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In a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

With this touchdown on Moon to script history after a flawless 41-day voyage and less than a week after a Russian lander headed to the lunar south pole crashed, India has become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the Moon after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

But no country has ever landed a rover on the treacherous south pole that scientists believe could hold important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft that was headed to the lunar south pole weeks after the launch of the Indian mission on July 14 crashed into the Moon on Sunday after spinning out of control.

Taking a billion dreams to the Moon in India's second attempt in four years, Chandrayaan-3's four-legged lander Vikram with the 26-kg rover Pragyan in its belly, made the soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon as per plans successfully negotiating what ISRO scientists described as the "20 minutes of terror" during the powered descent initiated at 5.44 pm.

(with PTI inputs)