First photos taken from Moon’s South Pole by India’s historic rover have been revealed
Published on Aug 24, 2023 at 1:39 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Aug 28, 2023 at 5:59 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
India is making history by showing pictures of the Moon’s South Pole for the first time.
Chandrayaan-3, India’s newest Moon rover, is sharing freshly taken photographs of a side of the Moon we’d never seen before, and they’re quite something.
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India is only the fourth country to land on the Moon but the first country to reach the Moon’s South Pole.
It had never been done before, and not for lack of trying.
In fact, Russia recently attempted to reach the Moon’s South Pole but the plan went terribly wrong when the Russian craft crashed right before landing.
India succeeded where Russia failed and reached the South Pole on August 23, 2023.
The Moon landing was broadcast on national television in India, and the video was also shared on YouTube by India’s space agency ISRO.
Moon’s South Pole Pictures shared by ISRO on Twitter / X.
Moon’s South Pole pictures reveal a version of the moon that, on the surface at least, looks rather familiar.
The terrain looks ‘crusty’ and hard, and it is characterized but the iconic Gruyère cheese-like cracks the Moon is famous for.
However, things are different when it comes to what lies underneath the surface.
Scientists believe that the permanently shadowed polar craters in the South Pole may contain frozen ice trapped in the rocks.
The ice could be used to support a permanent human presence on Earth’s natural satellite, something space agencies have been dreaming about since 1969, after the first Moon landing.
The idea is to create a base where astronauts and scientists can work from for extended periods of time.
After a 50-year hiatus, the space race is back in full swing.
Every major superpower is trying to figure out a way to get back to the Moon and NASA is actually working on mini Moon rovers specifically for this purpose.
The idea is to send these rovers to the Moon ahead of a manned mission.
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