India’s historic lunar space rover beams back first videos of the Moon’s South Pole
Published on Aug 29, 2023 at 1:51 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Sep 19, 2023 at 3:24 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
India is taking humanity on our first-ever trip to the South Pole of the Moon.
After reaching a side of the Moon that had never been explored before, they’re now sending back images and South Pole’s videos.
And they’re breath-taking.
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The first clip shared by ISRO shows the lunar rover exiting the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft and ‘walking’ on the moon.
Other pictures show data from the mission’s instruments, and more images of the lunar rover.
The second clip that ISRO uploaded to Twitter / X shows the rover driving away, moving almost out of the lander’s sight.
More images were shared today as the rover encountered a large crater and had to change its course because of it.
ISRO said they wanted to A, prove that India could reach the Moon and B, conduct “in-site scientific experiments”.
One such experiment was showcased on Twitter / X.
Both the lander and rover are equipped to take measurements of the lunar environment.
The first experiment, dubbed ‘Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment’, shows drastic temperature changes between the surface of the South Pole of the Moon and the temperature beneath the soil.
The lowest temperature, which is -10 degrees Celsius, is recorded 80 mm (3 in) beneath the surface.
India’s Space Agency, known as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), managed to write the country’s name in the history books by becoming the first country to reach the South Pole of the Moon.
And the crazy part is they did it on a budget.
India’s mission cost roughly $75 million.
For reference, there are space-themed Hollywood movies that cost a lot more than that.
Matt Damon’s The Martian cost $105 million, meanwhile Matthew McConaughey’s Interstellar was filmed on a budget of $165 million.
Sure, those movies were in HD while these South Pole’s videos we’re seeing are a bit grainy, but they’re a lot more significant.
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