NASA has released a photograph of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site on the moon, captured by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
The lander, Vikram, is visible in the photograph as a dark spot with a bright ring around it. The US space agency said the image was captured by the camera on-board LRO which acquired an oblique view (42-degree slew angle) of the lander, four days after its touchdown. Vikram landed near the moon’s south pole on August 23.
NASA identified in the image the “bright halo around the vehicle” as caused by the rocket plume interacting with the fine-grained lunar regolith (soil).
LRO is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at the NASA headquarters in Washington. Launched in 2009 with seven instruments, LRO has “collected a treasure trove of data” on the moon, NASA said. The LRO camera is managed and operated by Arizona State University.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has set the Chandrayaan-3 lander and the rover, Pragyan, into sleep mode after their first set of experiments that were carried out across a lunar day. Isro hoped for their revival at the next sunrise on the moon which is expected around September 22.
Published 06 September 2023, 11:55 IST