Chandrayaan 3’s Vikram lander shares fresh images of moon before touchdown

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday shared a fresh video showing images of the moon captured by Vikram’s Lander Image Camera before the touchdown on lunar surface.

The two minute long video shows the lander descending on the moon’s surface while its camera clicked pictures of the south pole surface

A short while ago, ISRO shared that all the activities of the moon mission are on schedule and the systems are normal.

“Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday”, the space agency shared an update on X.

The Chandrayaan 3’s Pragyan Rover on Thursday morning ramped out of the lander and began its walk on the moon.

According to ISRO chief S Somanath, the rover has two instruments and three instruments on the lander. All of them have been switched on sequentially.

“They will study basically the mineral composition of the moon, as well as the atmosphere of the Moon and the seismic activities there”, Somanath told PTI.

“(The lander landed) perfectly in the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km — I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing”, the ISRO chief said.

The lander and the rover are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period (about 14 Earth days).

India became the first country to touch down on the south pole of the moon’s surface when the Chandrayaan 3’s Vikram lander made a soft-landing on the surface on Wednesday. The feat was achieved 41 days after India’s third moon mission was launched on July 14.