India’s lunar rover Pragyaan stepped out

BBC Online :
India’s space agency has released new footage that shows Chandrayaan-3’s rover for the first time ever.

The video was taken just hours after the country made history by becoming the first to land near the south pole.

It shows Pragyaan (Sanskrit for wisdom) exiting the lander by sliding down a ramp and taking first steps on the lunar surface.

The Vikram lander – carrying the rover in its belly – had successfully touched down as planned on Wednesday evening.

With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.

On Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said the 26kg rover had “ramped down” from the lander and “India took a walk on the Moon!”.

Friday morning’s video showed the rover as it stepped out into the sunshine and its lengthening shadow.

Pragyaan – which moves at a speed of 1cm per second – is now roaming around the rocks and craters, gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.