Chandrayaan-3: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on August 25, 2023, shared some images of Chandrayaan-3 captured by Chandrayaan-2's orbiter, but deleted the post later on. Chandrayaan-2's Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) took these images of Chandrayaan-3 after the spacecraft made a historic touchdown on the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023. The post on X said that Chandrayaan-2's orbiter told Chandrayaan-3's lander: "I spy you!"
After Chandrayaan-3's successful soft landing on the Moon's south pole, India has become the first country to achieve a soft landing in that region, and the fourth country to softly land a spacecraft on the Moon, after the Soviet Union, the United States, and China.
Chandrayaan-2's orbiter is serving as a backup communication relay to Chandrayaan-3.
On August 24, ISRO said in a mission update that all activities of Chandrayaan-3 are on schedule, and that all systems are normal. Most of Vikram lander's payloads were turned on a day after the historic landing. The rover mobility operations have commenced. The propulsion module's SHAPE payload was switched 'ON' on August 20.
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Chandrayaan-3 has also shared a video of what the Moon looked like before the spacecraft touched down on the lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-3's powered descent towards the lunar surface began after ISRO initiated the automatic landing sequence for the landing module, which consisted of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover.
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About four hours after Chandrayaan-3's soft landing, the Pragyan rover successfully rolled out of the Vikram lander, when all the lunar dust had settled down.
Both the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover are expected to perform numerous experiments on the Moon for 14 Earth days.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said on August 24 that Chandrayaan-3 faced a number of challenges on the Moon, including a communication blackout, and a thermal issue.