Chandrayaan-3 was launched on July 14, 2023 into Earth orbit.
The Indian Space Research Organization ISRO shared the latest news on how the Chandrayaan-3 mission to explore the Moon is progressing. After the triumphant landing and the first photos of the surface, the Pragyan rover (“knowledge”, “wisdom”) took the first photo of the Vikram landing module and sent it to Earth.
ISRO’s Twitter blog says:
Smile, please! The Pragyan rover took a photo of the Vikram lander this morning. The “mission image” was captured by the navigation camera on board the rover (NavCam). The navigation cameras for the Chandrayaan-3 mission were developed by the LEOS Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory.
“Smile, please!” Indian rover takes first photo of Vikram lander on moon
The image shows the lander’s four legs and four motors, the rover’s solar panel and antenna. The image also shows the rocky landscape of the Moon’s south pole, where the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed, thus securing its place in history.
“Vikram” got its name in honor of the famous Indian scientist Vikram Sarabhai, considered the “father” of the Indian space program. It is planned that the Pragyan lunar rover will work on the surface of the Earth’s natural satellite for one lunar day (14 Earth days). His journey on the Moon began on August 24th.
Chandrayaan-3 is ISRO’s third lunar exploration station and India’s second successful soft landing attempt on the lunar surface. The first attempt was Chandrayaan-2 for almost four years, but then the lander and rover crashed into the moon due to a software glitch.
