INDIA'S LUNAR ROVER KEEPS WALKING ON THE MOON, DAYS AFTER SPACECRAFT'S HISTORIC TOUCHDOWN

India’s lunar rover continued its walk on the moon after the historic touch-down of India’s spacecraft near the moon’s south pole last week, the country’s space agency said. The rover’s data collection and experiments could help determine if there is oxygen and hydrogen on the moon.

The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, including an analysis of the mineral composition of the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization has said.

“The rover has successfully traversed a distance of about 8 meters (26.2 feet),” ISRO said. “All payloads on the propulsion module, lander module, and rover are performing nominally.”

The rover will also study the atmosphere of the moon and seismic activities, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said.

“These experiments would pave the way for new scientific research about the availability of oxygen and hydrogen on the surface of the moon and can give us a direct or indirect answer as to whether there was life on the moon,” the Press Trust of India news agency cited India’s Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh as saying.