ISRO hops the Vikram lander 40 cm over the lunar surface; and makes a soft landing

This experiment was carried out to ensure future missions are carried out successfully

Vikram Lander hops and soft lands blowing Moon dust (Credit : Telegraph India)

Bengaluru (Karnataka) – Even though the Pragyan rover that had come out of the Vikram lander on 3rd September was switched off by ISRO, the Vikram lander was hopped and soft landed. ISRO said, “Vikram was launched to a height of 40 centimetres above the lunar surface and then made to land again safely at a distance of 30 to 40 centimetres from its original location.” After this experiment, all the equipment aboard the Vikram was switched back on and put into operation as before. ISRO also clarified that all its equipment was working perfectly. ISRO has tweeted a video of this incident.

(Credit : WION)

What is the benefit of this experiment ?

ISRO will try to bring back the soil and rocks of the moon to Earth in the next mission. Therefore, in order to achieve that the spacecraft will have to launch itself from the lunar surface. Therefore, this experiment was done with the Vikram to test if this was possible. Along with this, since Indian astronauts will also set foot on the moon in the future, the astronauts who have landed on the moon will have to launch themselves from the lunar surface to return to the earth.