Chandrayaan-2 orbiter takes photos of Vikram lander on the moon
ISRO posted on X with a smiley, “I spy you. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter photoshoots Chandrayaan-3 Lander!”
Chandrayaan-2 orbiter took photos of Chandrayaan-3’s lander, Vikram, on the moon, said the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday (August 25).
Though Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the moon in 2019, its orbiter has been circling the moon since then and has been acquiring crucial information.
Just a few hours after India made history by being the first country in the world to make a soft landing on the south pole of the moon, the orbiter of Chandrayaan-3’s predecessor captured high-resolution photographs of the Vikram lander on the moon’s surface.
ISRO posted on X with a smiley, “I spy you. Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter photoshoots Chandrayaan-3 Lander!”
“Chandrayaan-2's Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) - the camera with the best resolution anyone currently has around the moon – spots Chandrayaan-3 Lander after the landing on 23/2³/23,” the space agency added.
ISRO earlier also messaged on X that all the Lander Module payloads had been switched on.
"All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday."
The chairman of ISRO S Somanath said the rover movement was working "very well".
"The lander landed perfectly on the intended site. The landing location was marked as 4.5 km x 2.5 km - I think on that space, and the exact centre of that was identified as the location of landing. It landed within 300 metres of that point. That means it is well within the area identified for landing," Somanath told PTI.
(With inputs from agencies)