Chandrayaan-3 rover rolls onto moon's surface as ecstatic India celebrates

India's Chandrayaan-3 moon rover has embarked on its exploration of the lunar surface after successfully exiting the spacecraft on Thursday morning, as confirmed by the country's space agency through the messaging platform X, previously known as Twitter.

The achievement follows the spacecraft's historic landing on the moon's uncharted south pole on Wednesday evening, marking India as the first nation to accomplish this feat, particularly significant in light of Russia's Luna-25 recent failure.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) conveyed the milestone with the message, "The Ch-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander and India took a walk on the moon!" The Chandrayaan-3 mission, executed with a budget of approximately 6.15 billion Indian rupees ($74.58 million), signifies India's second effort to successfully touch down on the lunar surface. A previous mission, Chandrayaan-2 in 2019, achieved orbiter deployment but encountered a lander crash.

Translated as "moon vehicle" in Hindi and Sanskrit, Chandrayaan reflects India's lunar aspirations. The moon's challenging south pole, with its water ice resources capable of supporting future missions' fuel, oxygen, and water needs, is a coveted location. However, the region's rough terrain poses landing challenges.

The landing event captivated the nation, drawing a substantial audience of nearly 7 million on YouTube's live stream alone. Prayers resonated across religious institutions, while schools facilitated live screenings for students to witness the spectacle.

Chandrayaan-3's operational duration is anticipated to extend for two weeks, encompassing a range of experiments, notably a spectrometer analysis to scrutinize the mineral composition of the lunar surface.