Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist N Valarmathi breathed last on September 2. She was known for being the voice behind the countdown for the launch of Chandrayaan-3. Know more about her in Business Today visual story.
“Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments! Else, it will forever stay there as India's lunar ambassador,” ISRO said, announcing that its moon rover was set into Sleep mode.
To prepare Vikram for the Moon’s landing, scientists had to simulate an environment similar to the Moon. Tamil Nadu district Namakkal, situated 400 km away from Chennai, has soil that is similar to that of the lunar soil. ISRO scientists often get samples of soil from this area to create a bed similar to that of the Moon. Hence, soil from Namakkal played an important role in ensuring Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing on the Moon
According to ISRO, the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole.