New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday shared a video taken by the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft’s lander just before making a historic landing on the Moon’s surface. The lander ‘Vikram’ touched down near the south pole of the Moon at 6.03 pm on Wednesday, successfully completing one of the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s stated objectives of soft landing on the lunar surface.
Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown. pic.twitter.com/PseUAxAB6G
— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023
Earlier in the day, the Indian space agency announced that the rover (Pragyan) has rolled down from the lander and that ‘India took a walk on the Moon’. The rover will send the data to the lander which will then send it to Earth.
The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover — with a total mass of 1,752 kg — are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days) to study the surroundings there.
… … and here is how the Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander to the Lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/nEU8s1At0W
— ISRO (@isro) August 25, 2023
The rover will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The rover would study the surface of the moon through its payloads APXS – Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer – to derive the chemical composition and infer mineralogical composition to further enhance understanding of the lunar surface.
