The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the first images of the Moon as viewed by Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft.
Chandrayaan-3 is the third and most recent lunar Indian Space Research exploration mission under the Chandrayaan programme. It consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan similar to Chandrayaan-2, but does not have an orbiter.
Following Chandrayaan-2, where a last-minute glitch in the landing guidance software led to the lander crashing after entering lunar orbit, another lunar mission was proposed.
The launch of Chandrayaan-3 took place on 14 July 2023 and lunar injection of 100 km circular polar orbit was completed successfully as part of phase one. The lander and rover are expected to land near the lunar south pole region on 23 August 2023.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is a stepping stone towards ISRO’s future interplanetary missions. The key idea is technology demonstration of crucial capability to soft land on lunar surface safely that the earlier mission could not achieve.
News Source: ISRO
