Lander Vikram Sends First Pics Of Moon After Detaching From Spacecraft

New Delhi:

The Vikram lander shared the first images of the moon, today, after successfully detaching from the spacecraft’s propulsion module.

India’s space agency ISRO shared the stunning images taken by the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1,  on X, formerly known as Twitter. The montage of images show different craters of the moon, one of which is the Giordano Bruno crater, one of the youngest large craters on the moon.

The LI Camera -1 also captured images of the Harkhebi J crater, which has a diameter of approximately 43 km. The pictures were taken after the lander separated from the module. 

“Thanks for the ride, mate”, said the lander module after detaching from the propulsion system. The module is set to descend to a lower orbital upon a deboosting, which was successfully performed today. The Lander Module’s (LM) health is normal and the manoeuvre reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km. The second deboosting is scheduled for August 20 around 2 am.

Deboosting, which refers to slowing down, will place the Lander Module in an orbit where Perilune (closest point to the Moon) is 30 kilometres and Apolune (farthest point from the Moon) is 100 km.

The lander will attempt a “soft landing” on the south polar region of the moon on August 23, while the propulsion module will continue to orbit around the moon and study the Earth’s atmosphere. It will also accumulate signatures of exoplanets that would qualify for our habitability.

After the lander touches down and the lunar dust settles, ‘Pragyaan’ rover will roll down from the Vikram Lander. Then the lander will take images of the rover and vice-versa.

Following the moon landing, the rover will collect data on the composition and geology of the surface of the moon, paving the way for wide-ranging research.