India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft has beamed back its first photo of the moon’s surface following its triumphant landing on Wednesday.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted the stunning snap taken by the moon lander’s imaging camera just over three hours after touchdown.
It shows a ‘relatively’ flat region on the lunar surface with the lander’s leg and accompanying shadow visible in the right-hand corner.
Earlier, ISRO posted four images taken by the moon lander’s ‘horizontal velocity camera’ of the rugged surface during its heroic descent.
With its little dimples and grooves, the moon’s rugged surface as pictured from above is made to look like yeast bubbles in bread dough.
Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander with a smaller rover inside that weighs just 26 kg (57lb) – about the same as three full-sized watermelons.
The lander, which has been in lunar orbit for over two weeks, touched down on the lunar south at 18:02 Indian Standard Time (13:32 BST) on Wednesday.
The rover rolled out of the lander merely hours after touchdown and is now exploring the region, ISRO has confirmed.
Science instruments on both the lander and rover will study the region’s surface for roughly one lunar day, or 14 Earth days – a short timespan compared with other space missions.
Both the lander and rover are solar powered, so therefore after one lunar day they’ll be plunged into the darkness of the lunar night and will no longer be able to operate.
ISRO said more updates of the mission’s progress will be coming soon as it makes its way across what is unchartered ground for humanity.
It marks a momentous 24 hours for India, which was left devastated by the failure of the mission’s predecessor, Chandrayaan-2, four years ago. (Daily Mail)
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