Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan rover has sent a picture of the Vikram lander on the moon’s surface. The photo was taken from a distance this morning. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said the “image of the mission” was taken by the rover’s onboard navigation camera (NavCam).
The image shows the Vikram lander on the surface of the moon. ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment), which recently measured the temperature profile of the lunar surface at the South Pole to understand the thermal behavior of the lunar surface, is also seen in the photo sent by the Pragyan rover.
ISRO tweeted the photo and said, “Smile please! Pragyan Rover clicked on an image of Vikram Lander this morning. The ‘image of the mission’ was created by the Rover’s onboard navigation camera (NavCam). NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 mission were developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS).
On Tuesday, the Pragyan rover confirmed the presence of sulfur on the lunar surface. ISRO said the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument aboard the Pragyan rover unequivocally confirmed the presence of sulfur (S) on the lunar surface near the south pole.
Not just sulfur, the Pragyan rover also detected the presence of aluminum, calcium, ferrous (iron), chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen, the space agency said. “The search for hydrogen is underway,” ISRO said.
Nilesh Desai, director of ISRO’s Space Applications Center, said the sulfur spectral line is clearly observable at the South Pole.
Speaking to ANI, Nilesh Desai said, “There are two payloads in the rover: X-ray spectrograph and laser-induced spectrograph. According to initial findings, the spectral line of sulfur is clearly visible at the South Pole. At the South Pole, sulfur is clearly visible.”
On August 23, the Vikram lander aboard the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed on the moon’s surface at the unknown south pole, making India the first country to explore the region and the fourth — after the US, China and Russia – that successfully landed on the lunar surface.
(With input from the agency)
See all business news, market news, latest news events and latest news updates on DailyExertNews. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates.
. or less
Updated: August 30, 2023, 2:52 PM IST
