Indian space agency releases first photos, video from the Moon after successful landing
New Delhi, Aug 25 (EFE).- The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Friday released the first photos and video footage of its recent moon mission, Chandrayaan-3, following its successful touchdown on the south pole of the Moon earlier this week.
ISRO shared two photographs of the lander on the Moon’s surface, captured by the high-resolution camera of the orbiter from India’s previous lunar mission Chandrayaan-2.
“I spy you!” ISRO posted on X (formerly twitter) along with photos showing the lander on the Moon’s cratered terrain.
The agency also released a new video, showing the Chandrayaan-3 rover ramping down from the lander onto the lunar surface as it commences its mission.
The rover, weighing approximately 23 kilograms, is a six-wheeled robotic explorer designed to gather information and images of the lunar soil for sending them back to Earth.
Additionally, the rover will assist the Indian space agency in studying the composition of the lunar surface using X-ray and laser techniques.
Meanwhile, the lander itself is equipped with four scientific instruments, enabling it to analyze lunar seismic activity, study heat flux and plasma density near the lunar surface, and precisely measure the distance between earth and moon.
Both the lander and rover are expected to remain operational and send data to ISRO scientists for 14 Earth days, equivalent to one lunar day, as they rely on solar energy for their operations.
During the data transmission to the earth, the lander and rover will rely on the orbiter from Chandrayaan-2, India’s previous space mission to the moon.
Although the lander from Chandrayaan-2 mission crash-landed on the Moon in 2019, its orbiter has been continuously orbiting the moon and providing valuable data for the past four years.
Wednesday’s historic lunar landing made India the fourth nation to successfully land on the moon after Russia, the United States, and China. It also marked India as the first country to achieve a landing on the south pole of the moon. EFE
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