Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander executes successful ‘hop’ experiment on the Moon  

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's lander, Vikram, has accomplished another massive feat by successfully conducting a "hop" experiment on the Moon's surface.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) revealed that Vikram executed the hop experiment by firing its engines as commanded, lifting itself by approximately 40 cm above the Moon terrain, and safely landing just 30-40 cm away.

This successful hop experiment has substantial implications for future missions, particularly those aimed at collecting lunar samples and future human lunar missions.

Vikram Lander, part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, surpassed its mission objectives by completing this hop experiment.

All systems performed as expected, and the spacecraft remained in good health throughout the experiment, ISRO revealed.

Various components, including Ramp, ChaSTE, and ILSA, were deployed and retracted successfully during the experiment.

The lander module, which carries the rover Pragyan, had previously made a successful soft landing on August 23, with Pragyan being deployed onto the lunar surface shortly afterward.

While conducting in-situ measurements, one of Vikram's onboard payloads indicated the presence of plasma near the lunar surface.

Additionally, two other payloads confirmed the presence of sulfur in the moon's south-polar region.

Pragyan rover has covered a distance of over 100 meters from Vikram on the lunar surface.

As of September 2, Pragyan had completed its assigned tasks, was safely parked, and placed into sleep mode, with its battery fully charged and solar panels oriented to receive sunlight at the next lunar sunrise expected on September 22.