Chandrayaan-3 Vikram Lander 'hops' on the Moon. ISRO explains what this means

After India scripted history by soft-landing the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface on August 23, ISRO said on Monday that the lander successfully "hopped" on the surface of the Moon by itself.

Calling it a "hop test", the Indian Space Research Organisation announced that the Vikram lander made a soft landing on the lunar surface again recently when it fired the engines on command, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected, and landed safely at a distance of 30 to 40 cm away.

Explaining why this test was so important, ISRO explained on X: "This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions!"

"Vikram soft-landed on the moon, again! Vikram Lander exceeded its mission objectives. It successfully underwent a hop experiment. On command, it fired the engines, elevated itself by about 40 cm as expected and landed safely at a distance of 30-40 cm away," the space agency said in a post.

"Importance?: This 'kick-start' enthuses future sample return and human missions! All systems performed nominally and are healthy. Deployed Ramp, ChaSTE, and ILSA were folded back and redeployed successfully after the experiment," ISRO added.