Know your rover pragyan

Source: The post is based on the article “Know your rover pragyan ”  published in The Hindu on 25th August 2023.

What is the News?

ISRO has released the much-anticipated video of the Pragyan rover ramping down from the Vikram lander and walking on the lunar surface.

What is a Rover?

A rover is simply a vehicle for exploring the surface of a planet or moon.

What is Pragyan Rover?

ISRO has deployed its lunar rover, named Pragyan as part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. The rover’s name ‘Pragyan’ is Sanskrit for wisdom.

Pragyan has been assigned the task of carrying out a chemical analysis of the lunar surface in situ as it moves about in the highlands near the Moon’s south pole.

It is equipped with two payloads: APXS or ‘Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer’ and the LIBS or ‘Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope’.

– APXS will be engaged in deriving the elemental composition of the lunar surface; while LIBS will carry out experiments to determine the elemental composition of chemical elements such magnesium and aluminum etc. of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

Cameras: Pragyan Rover has two Navigation cameras fitted in the front of the rover to navigate the Rover in the lunar terrain. 

– NAVCAM-Left & NAVCAM -Right. These cameras help in path planning and obstacle avoidance, to ensure that there is no rock, there is no obstacle, there is no pit etc. in the path. 

– It is like a human being or robot having eyes, so wherever the rover is going to move there is a path planning which is done based on the stereo images from Navcams.

Lifespan: Pragyan has a mission life of 1 lunar day, approximately equal to 14 Earth days. This will be the period over which the rover will try to fulfill its objectives.

Why does the Pragyan rover have a short lifespan? When the sun sets on the moon, an area will become dark and very cold. This can damage the battery and other electronics components. When the sun rises again, after 14 days, the rover can ‘return’ to life if the components have survived. But this is highly unlikely.