Ahead Of Touchdown, ISRO Shares Fresh Images Of Moon Captured By Chandrayaan-3

The Indian Space Research Organisation shared fresh images captured by Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera.

The Indian Space Research Organisation shared fresh images captured by Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera. ISRO took to X, formerly Twitter to share the images. The images were captured by a camera tasked to assist the Vikram lander find a safe landing area. "Here are the images of Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera that assists in locating a safe landing area -- without boulders or deep trenches -- during the descent is developed at SAC/ISRO," ISRO said.

The lander is slated to touch down on the Moon's south polar region at 6:04 pm on Wednesday.

Earlier, Chandrayaan-3’s lander module underwent its second and final de-orbiting manoeuvre, and is now in an orbit of size 25 km × 134 km. This de-boosting operation occurred at 1:50 am IST on August 20, 2023. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a mission update that spacecraft health is normal.

Next, the lander module, which consists of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, will undergo internal checks and wait for sunrise to occur at the designated landing site. The de-boosting operation is important because it has allowed the lander module to reach the orbit from which the spacecraft can start its descent towards the lunar surface.

According to ISRO, the lander module is expected to land on the lunar surface on August 23, between 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm IST. The lander module’s first de-orbit manoeuvre occurred on August 18, 2023.

Chandrayaan-3’s lander module separated from the propulsion module on August 17, 2023, at 1:15 pm IST. The lander module will descend to a slightly lower orbit following a de-boosting operation set to occur on August 18, at around 4:00 pm IST. After the separation of the lander module and the propulsion module, ISRO wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the lander module said to the propulsion module: ‘Thanks for the ride, mate! 👋’

With the separation of the lander module and the propulsion module, there are three Indian spacecraft orbiting the Moon. These are: Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter, and Chandrayaan-3’s lander module and propulsion module.