Just after Chandrayaan's module made a soft landing on the Moon, the Indian space agency announced that the rear wheels of the rover Pragyaan would leave imprints of India's national emblem and the official logo of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The idea was praised by Indians around the world and also seen as an attempt by the ISRO to confirm its presence of the rover on the lunar surface.
However, the latest published news reports said that Pragyaan's rear wheels have been unable to leave a clear imprint on the moon.
Explaining the possible reason for the rover failing to leave an imprint, Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, former Director of ISRO's satellite-building facility, UR Rao Satellite Centre, told Indian news channel Wion that Pragyaan is a six-wheeled rover that weighs 26kg on Earth and 4.5kg on the Moon.
Annadurai, who is also known as the Moon Man of India, suggests that the low lunar mass of the rover could have prevented the clear imprints from appearing. A heavier rover could leave a better and much more noticeable impression.
The scientist said that during the rover's tests on Earth, they created an artificial lunar soil test bed, which was modelled according to the details of the Apollo 11 landing site, which is at the equatorial region of the moon.
However, Chandrayaan landed on the South Pole of the moon.
While testing the Chandrayaan 2 and Chandrayaan 3 rovers, the wheels left an imprint on the soil, and he added that when a clear print is not seen, it could be because the nature of the soil near the Chandrayaan-3 landing site is different.
"Just like there is sandy, clayey and other varieties of soil on Earth, the same could be possible in different lunar regions," he said.
However, he stressed that the mass of the rover plays a very important role, and other factors include how much the rover wheel treads can penetrate the lunar soil.