Chandrayaan-3 lander is in the center of the image, its dark shadow is visible against the bright halo surrounding the vehicle.
(NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University)
India’s lunar ambassadors, the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram and rover Pragyan, lately tucked themselves in and are presently ‘asleep’ on the Moon’s South pole to endure the lunar night time’s freezing solitude.
But earlier than they shut themselves off, the lander-rover duo stored us hooked with Pragyan playfully trudging round lunar craters, and Vikram ‘hopping’ to gracefully land on the Moon for a second time, all whereas making an attempt to unveil Moon’s deepest secrets and techniques.
In the meantime, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which had additionally been scanning the lunar panorama, appears to have noticed the lander’s antics And simply 4 days after India’s historic Moon touchdown, its watchful eye captured a mesmerising ‘bird’s eye view’ of the Vikram lander by the Chandrayaan-3’s touchdown web site.
The ensuing picture, lately shared by NASA, reveals a fascinating sight: Vikram stands as a tiny however distinct speck amidst the treacherous lunar craters. Surrounding it’s a luminous halo created by the rocket plume’s interplay with Moon’s fine-grained soil.
NASA has estimated that Chandrayaan-3’s historic touchdown web site is a mere 600 kilometres from the Moon’s coveted South Pole!
The photographer behind this particular image, the LRO digicam, has been amassing a treasure trove of information with its seven highly effective devices for 15 years now. In truth, the digicam additionally lately snapped {a photograph} of a brand new lunar crater which is probably the impression web site of Luna-25, Russia’s crashed lunar probe.
As for Pragyan and Vikram, they’re eagerly awaiting the mild contact of the lunar dawn anticipated on September 22 to awaken, and hopefully embark on the subsequent stage of their lunar journey.
Until then, you may learn extra about their lunar exploits right here.
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