Chandrayaan-3 breaks records, becomes world's most viewed live stream

Over eight million concurrent users were watching the YouTube live stream of Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module's soft-landing on the moon, making it the most-watched live stream globally, according to Sacnilk. 

The Chandrayaan landing makes India the fourth country to achieve a successful moon landing and the first to soft-land near the moon's south pole. Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon after travelling about 384,000 km for over 40 days. Chandrayaan-3 was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on July 14.

The second most watched livestream globally is the Brazil vs Croatia football match from the FIFA World Cup 2022, which had six million peak concurrent viewers (PCVs). The Brazil vs South Korea football match from the same tournament with 5.2 million PCVs ranks third. The Chandrayaan-3 mission also beat Cariocao 2023 Serie A semi-final between Vasco da Gama and Flamengo with 4.7 million PCVs.

President Droupadi Murmu congratulates Isro team

President Droupadi Murmu congratulated the Isro team for the successful deployment of Pragyan. "It's rolling out a few hours after the landing of Vikram marked the success of yet another stage of Chandrayaan 3. I look forward with excitement, alongside my fellow citizens and scientists, to the information and analyses that Pragyan will acquire and enrich our understanding of the moon", she said.

Also Read: India, I reached my destination: Chandrayaan-3's first message from Moon

Pragyan rover on moon: What next?

Chandrayaan 3's Lander Module Vikram touched the lunar surface at 6:04 p.m. on Wednesday. Four hours after Vikram's landing, one of its side panels unfolded to create a ramp for Pragyan, a 20-kg rover.

Pragyan rover is carrying two payloads with it: the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS).

The rover's main objective is to study the Moon's atmosphere and surface composition. APXS will study the elemental composition such as magnesium, Aluminium, Silicon, Potassium, Calcium, Titanium, and Iron of lunar soil and rocks around the lunar landing site.

LIBS propulsion module will conduct elemental analysis to derive the chemical composition and infer the mineralogical composition of the lunar surface.

Over the next 14 days, the rover will collect this data and relay it to Earth.

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Pragyan rover age: How long will it roll on the Moon?

The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have about 14 days to study the Moon's surface, or one lunar day. After this, freezing temperatures of minus 238 degrees Celsius in the south pole are likely to destroy the instruments.

Isro officials do not rule out their possibility of coming to life for another lunar day. 

(with inputs from agencies)