Chandrayaan camera providing good images: Isro

After successfully landing the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) on the lunar surface on November 14, Isro has activated its stereoscopic camera that has provided “very good images,” Isro chief Madhavan Nair said today.

“After the landing of MIP on Moon, we have activated stereoscopic camera which has given us very good images. The pictures are already on our website and give fine details of the surface, craters, mountain-like structures,” he said on the sidelines of ‘Bengaluru Space Expo’ here.

“All other instruments on Chandrayaan-I have also been energised. Two instruments, however, remain to be switched off. They are scheduled to be activated by mid-December as they (instruments) require favourable conditions such as sun angle,” Nair said.

As MIP was descending, the video (stereoscopic) camera took 3,000 images within 25 minutes. “The closest image was just at the ridge of Shackleton crater and it has given a very vivid image of that. It shows that MIP has precisely landed,” he said.

“The mass spectrometer has given data which show the types of elements present on the lunar surface. It (data) has to be calibrated,” Nair said.

The altimeter, he said, is another instrument which is supposed to give trajectory. “The work (calibration) is going on and it will take three months. This has confirmed that whatever we have done is on the dot,” he added.