Chandrayaan-3: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has released the first visuals of the Moon as captured by Chandrayaan-3, India's third lunar mission. The visuals were captured a day after the spacecraft successfully entered the lunar orbit. The video showed the Moon in bluish-green colour with many craters.
"The Moon, as viewed by Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft during Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) on August 5, 2023," tweeted the Mission's official Twitter handle and shared the video.
Second Lunar bound orbit maneuver for Chandrayaan-3 performed successfully
The second Lunar bound orbit maneuver for the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was performed successfully today (August 6), using the onboard propulsion system. The orbit achieved is 170 km x 4313 km. The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 9.
After the Sunday maneuver, there will be three more operations till August 17 following which the Landing Module Vikram carrying the rover Pragyan inside will break away from the Propulsion Module. After this, de-orbiting maneuvers will be carried on the lander before the final powered descent on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 successfully inserted into lunar orbit
Earlier on August 5, the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft was successfully inserted into the lunar orbit. The required manoeuvre was done from an ISRO facility in Bengaluru. The injection into the lunar orbit marked a major milestone in the space agency's ambitious Rs 600 crore mission.
"I am feeling lunar gravity," was Chandrayaan-3's message to the ISRO after the required maneuver that took it closer to the Moon was carried out without any glitch from the space agency's facility in Bengaluru.
Chandrayaan-3 covered two-thirds of distance to Moon
Earlier on Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) informed that the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has covered about two-thirds of the distance to the Moon since its launch on July 14 and the next 18 days will be crucial for the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO).
The space agency earlier said that the health of India's third lunar mission is normal and a soft landing on the lunar surface would be attempted on August 23.
If Chandrayaan-3 succeeds in landing a robotic lunar rover in ISRO's second attempt in four years, India will become the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the moon's surface after the US, China and the former Soviet Union.
(with inputs from PTI)
