After India scripted history by soft-landing the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface on August 23, ISRO said on Monday that the lander successfully "hopped" on the surface of the Moon by itself.
Calling it a "hop test", the Indian Space Research Organisation announced that the Vikram lander made a soft landing on the lunar surface again recently when it fired the engines on command, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected, and landed safely at a distance of 30 to 40 cm away.
Explaining why this test was so important, ISRO explained on X: "This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions!"
"Vikram soft-landed on the moon, again! Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away," the space agency said in a post.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission: Vikram soft-landed on, again!Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30 – 40 cm away.… pic.twitter.com/T63t3MVUvI — ISRO (@isro) September 4, 2023
"Importance?: This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions! All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE, and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment," ISRO added.
India became the fourth country to touch the lunar surface and first to ever reach the south pole of the moon.
Read more: N Valarmathi, voice of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 countdown, dies
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