India has published the First images from the Chandrayaan-3 mission Taken from the surface of the Moon after a historic moon landing near the lunar south pole.
Why are astronaut suits white?
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) shared the images about four hours after the Vikram lander completed its gentle descent into the lunar regolith.
Photo: ISRO
The first set of four images was taken by Vikram’s horizontal velocity camera as it approached the Moon’s surface. An additional image shared a bit later shows the landing site, including a portion of the spacecraft’s leg and its shadow.
Photo: ISRO
“Chandrayaan-3 chose a relatively flat region on the lunar surface,” wrote the Indian space agency, although the area is marked by small impact craters, like much of the satellite.
ISRO has also successfully deployed the Pragyan rover, which descended a ramp from the lander to the surface of the Moon. In one image you can see its solar panel exposed before the triumphant descent.
Photo: ISRO
Vikram (which means courage) has three scientific instruments with which he will detect seismic activity at the lunar south pole, search for plasma ions and electrons on the Moon, and measure the thermal characteristics of its surface.
Pragyan (which means wisdom), has a pair of spectrometers to study the composition of the soil and measure the presence of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium and potassium in nearby rocks.
Chandrayaan-3 is India’s second attempt to land near the lunar south pole. After a first failed attempt due to a software problem on the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, the country has become the fourth in the world to successfully land on the Moon (and the first to do so near the lunar south pole).
India’s triumph comes just three days after Russia lost contact on Luna-25, its first attempt to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface in half a century. The Luna-25 spacecraft was also aimed at the lunar south pole, but crashed into the satellite after a failed orbital maneuver.
2023-08-24 10:50:42
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