India’s lunar rover has just shared incredible first images of its lander on the Moon’s South Pole.
Since the historic landing last Wednesday, the Pragyan rover and Vikram lander are about halfway through their two-week mission.
And now for the first time, the Indian space org has released images of the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander.
READ MORE! India’s lunar rover has made a huge discovery while searching for water on South Pole of Moon
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) this morning shared two black and white photos taken by the camera on the rover.
“Smile, please!” the ISRO captioned the images.
In one of the images, the ISRO highlighted two of Vikram’s science sensors.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission update:
— . (@chandrayaan_3) August 30, 2023
Smile, please📸!
Pragyan Rover clicked an image of Vikram Lander this morning.
The 'image of the mission' was taken by the Navigation Camera onboard the Rover (NavCam).
NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 Mission are developed by the Laboratory for… pic.twitter.com/uzMy0hC7gl
Since its history-making landing on the Moon’s South Pole on August 23, India’s lunar rover has already made some pretty significant discoveries.
The lunar rover came across a massive obstacle this week in the form of a four-meter-wide crater.
India’s space agency then confirmed it had made the incredible discovery of sulphur on the moon.
Not only that, but several other elements were detected too including aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, and silicon.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 28, 2023
On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location.
The Rover was commanded to retrace the path.
It's now safely heading on a new path.#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/QfOmqDYvSF
The discoveries were made while the rover was in search for signs of frozen water.
The space agency hopes that discovering water on the Moon could help future astronaut missions as a potential source of drinking water or even rocket fuel.
The ISRO says the rover will also study the Moon’s atmosphere and seismic activity.
𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐚𝐧-𝟑 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞:
— . (@chandrayaan_3) August 31, 2023
The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera.
It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately.… pic.twitter.com/PXxecmQEeG
READ MORE! India’s lunar rover comes across an unexpected obstacle on the South Pole of Moon
The Indian Space Research Agency made history last week when it revealed it had successfully landed on the Moon’s South Pole.
In doing so, India became the first country to ever land on the South Pole, and the fourth ever country to land on the Moon at all.