ISRO releases first set of earth pictures taken by Chandrayaan-2

Space agency ISRO on Sunday released the first set of pictures of the earth captured by Chandrayaan-2, the country's second mission to the Moon launched a fortnight ago.

ISRO chief K Sivan said the images were captured by the camera fitted on the lander of Chandrayaan 2.

The photographs, which were taken on Saturday, indicate that the mission is "in good health", he told PTI.

The pictures are captured by L 14 camera on board Chandrayaan-2 and show parts of South America and the Pacific Ocean, an ISRO official said.

"Earth as viewed by #Chandrayaan2 LI4 Camera on August 3, 2019 17:34 UT," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted along with a set of five pictures.

After the launch of Chandrayaan 2, there were several pictures which were claimed to have been taken by it. However, the space agency had said that the images were not taken by Chandrayaan 2.

India on July 22 successfully launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission from its most powerful rocket with a plan to land the rover on September 7 in the unexplored lunar south pole.

The mission, which carries a total of 13 payloads, including three from the Europe, two from the US and one from Bulgaria, seeks to improve understanding of the Moon which could lead to discoveries that will benefit India and humanity as a whole.

Chandrayaan-2 is launched 11 years after ISRO's successful first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, which scripted history by making more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon and was operational for 312 days till August 29, 2009.

Scientists would make soft landing of the lander in the South Pole region of the Moon where no country has gone so far.

Billed as the most complex and prestigious mission undertaken by the ISRO since its inception, Chandrayaan-2 will make India only the fourth country to successfully make a soft landing on the Moon after Russia, the United States and China.

Chandrayaan-2 will be inducted in the trans-lunar orbit on August 14.