After Chandrayaan-3’s landing, the Vikram lander deployed the Pragyan rover, and the mission shifted from descent to surface science. ISRO’s plan was to use both lander and rover for about one lunar day, or roughly 14 Earth days, to collect data before lunar night ended operations.

What happened next

  • The lander opened a panel and lowered a ramp for the rover to roll onto the Moon’s surface.
  • The rover began moving slowly and performing in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar soil.
  • The onboard scientific instruments started gathering measurements soon after landing, because the mission life was limited to one lunar day.

Mission goals after landing

The post-landing phase focused on exploring the south polar region, especially the surface composition and nearby environment.

Scientists were especially interested in signs related to lunar water ice, lunar quakes, and the Moon’s geology.

The landing itself was also important because it demonstrated India’s first soft landing in the Moon’s southern polar region.

Simple timeline

  1. Touchdown by the Vikram lander.
  1. Deployment of the rover via ramp.
  1. Movement across the surface and data collection.
  1. Operations continued through the lunar day until conditions became too cold and dark.

Bottom line

In plain terms, the landing was not the end of the mission — it was the start of the science phase. The real work after Chandrayaan-3’s landing was to move, measure, and send back lunar data before the Moon’s night shut the mission down.