Chandrayaan-3: ISRO's Lander releases new images of moon from 70 km above

In under 100 hours, Chandrayaan-3 will make its highly awaited historic landing on Moon's south pole. The landmark event will be taking place on the lunar surface on 23 August

Chandrayaan-3 has reached the Moon’s orbit and is about to soft-land on the lunar surface by August 23, Wednesday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it effectively reduced the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 mission's Lander Module (LM) on Sunday. Launched on 14 July, the lander module of Chandrayaan-3 isolated itself from the Propulsion Module on Thursday, 35 days after the mission was launched. 

The mission targets of Chandrayaan-3 are to execute a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, to land its rover on the Moon, and to lead in-situ scientific experiments.

Chandrayaan-3: Overview

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday shared new pictures of the moon taken by Vikram Lander's Imager Camera 4. The pictures of the Moon's surface were shared by ISRO on its X account. 

ISRO said the pictures of the moon were snapped by the lander position detection camera (LPDC) from a height of approx 70 kilometers on August 19.

Vikram Lander's soft landing on the south pole of the Moon is slated to happen on Wednesday. The experts are agreeing that the last 20 minutes before the soft landing are exceptionally critical for the mission. The ISRO's mission scientists will programme the landing a day earlier.

Chandrayaan 2 & 3: Insights 

The 'Vikram' lander had effectively isolated itself from the propulsion module last Thursday. It went through two vital deboosting manoeuvres and descended to a marginally lower orbit.

On Monday, the Chandrayaan 3 lander module established communication with Chandrayaan 2's orbiter. The ISRO posted on X,”Welcome, buddy!’ The Ch-2 orbiter formally welcomed the Ch-3 LM. Two-way communication between the two is established. MOX has now more routes to reach the LM”.

A GSLV Mark 3 (LVM 3) heavy lift launch vehicle was utilised for the launch of the rocket which experienced a progression of orbital manoeuvres that were brought nearer down to the moon's surface.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission moon landing will make India the fourth nation after the US, Russia and China to accomplish a soft landing on the lunar surface.