 |
| Chandrayaan 3 has released the first images of the surface of the Moon |
India's space agency has released the first images of the moon taken by the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft that entered lunar orbit on Saturday.
In the images, craters on the moon's surface can be seen getting bigger and bigger as the spacecraft approaches.
If the mission succeeds, India will become the first country to make a 'soft landing' near the Moon's south pole.
It will also become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China.
After orbiting the Earth for about 10 days, the spacecraft was sent into translunar orbit last Tuesday and successfully entered lunar orbit on Saturday.
India's Space Research Agency (ISRO) has said that an analysis of all the information found that Chandrayaan-3 was in good condition.
He also pointed out that 'this is the third time in a row that ISRO has successfully put a spacecraft into lunar orbit'.
Scientists say Chandrayaan-3 is the third part of India's lunar exploration program and is expected to lead to the success of its first moon mission.
It comes 13 years after the country's first moon mission in 2008, which detected the presence of water molecules on the dry lunar surface and proved that the moon has a daytime atmosphere.
Chandrayaan-2, which included an orbiter, a lander, and a rover, was launched in July 2019 but was only partially successful. Its orbiter is still orbiting and studying the Moon today, but the Lander rover failed to make a soft landing and crashed during the landing.
ISRO chief Sridhara Pannekar Somnath has said that India's space agency has carefully studied its accident data and conducted simulation exercises to iron out faults in Chandrayaan-3, which weighs 3,900 kg. And its cost is 6.1 billion Indian rupees.
The lander (called Vikram after ISRO's founder) weighs about 1,500 kg and carries a 26 kg rover named Pragyan.
Now that the spacecraft has entered lunar orbit, scientists will begin to slowly decelerate the rocket to bring it to a point that will allow Vikram to make a soft landing.
ISRO says several maneuvers are planned to gradually lower the spacecraft's orbit and keep it at the lunar poles.
He said that after some maneuvers, the propulsion module will separate from the lander while in orbit. This will be followed by a series of complex braking maneuvers to facilitate a soft landing in the lunar south pole region on August 23.
After landing, the six-wheeled rover will circle the rocks and craters on the moon's surface and collect vital data and images that will be sent back to Earth for analysis.
ISRO official Somnath said the rover is carrying five instruments that will focus on learning about the moon's surface composition, near-surface environment, and tectonic activity to study what happens beneath the surface. "I hope we get something new," he added.
The moon's south pole is still largely unexplored — the surface area there is much larger than the moon's north pole, and scientists say that means there's likely to be water in permanent areas. are shadowy.