The Indian spacecraft is already showing the first images of its space mission on the surface of the moon

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released the first images this Friday of the development of its Chandrayaan-3 space mission on the surface of the moon, including the first steps of her explorer after the satellite’s successful landing at the south pole.

The Indian space agency shared on the social network X (formerly Twitter) two photos of the place where Chandrayaan-3 landed last Wednesday, taken by the orbiter that India sent on its last mission to the moon. .

“Spying on you,” ISRO wrote in a message accompanying the images on the mission’s X account, which show the cratered lunar surface, including the Chandrayaan-3 lander.

The agency also released a short video of its rover ‘Pragyaan”s first moments on the moon, in which the six-wheeler descends down a small ramp protruding from the ‘Vikram’ lander to begin its tour of the lunar surface.

So far, the rover has traveled “a distance of about eight meters,” ISRO reported in a subsequent publication, which reported that the rover’s payloads, as well as those of the lander and orbiter, are working properly.

The rover, about 23 kilograms, is a six-wheeled robot that will collect information and images from the lunar soil and send them back to Earth. It will also help the Indian Space Agency study the composition of the lunar surface using X-rays and lasers.

The lander, in turn, has four scientific instruments, or payloads, that will analyze the moon’s seismic activity, study the heat flux and density of the plasma near the surface, and enable a more accurate measurement of the distance between Earth and its surroundings. will make. satellite.

Both elements will send data to ISRO scientists over 14 Earth days, equivalent to one Monday, as they both rely on sunlight to function.

To do this, they will rely on the orbiter that orbited Chandrayaan-3’s predecessor in 2019, the only remaining part of that mission after the lander crashed into the lunar surface during descent.

Four years later, its successor’s historic moon landing made India the fourth country to land on the moon, along with the US, Russia and China, and the first country to land at the South Pole. (JO)

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