Bengaluru, India: The Indian space agency has released images of the moon taken from its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft as it approaches the lunar south pole, a previously unexplored region thought to contain water ice and where Russia is trying to land first.
The video, taken just after the separation of the rocket’s lander from the propulsion module, showed a close-up of craters as Earth’s only natural satellite spun round.
A view of the moon as viewed by the Chandrayaan-3 lander during lunar orbit.Credit: ISRO/Reuters
“The Lander Module (LM) health is normal. LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted later.
The agency launched the rocket carrying the spacecraft on July 14, blasting off from the country’s main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The lander is scheduled to attempt a touchdown on August 23.
Russia launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years on August 11, taking a more direct course to reach the moon’s south pole where scientists have detected water ice that could be used for fuel, oxygen and drinking water for future moon missions or a lunar colony.
Russia’s moon mission is on track to land the Luna-25 on August 21, two days before India’s spacecraft.
Rough terrain is expected to complicate a landing. A previous mission by India’s space agency, the Chandrayaan-2, crashed in 2019 near where the Chandrayaan-3 will attempt a touchdown.
Chandrayaan, which means “moon vehicle” in Sanskrit, includes a two-metre-tall lander designed to deploy a rover expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments.
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