On August 23, India became the fourth nation to successfully soft land on the Moon and the first to do so close to the lunar South Pole. The lander Vikram and the rover Pragyan have completed their primary mission and they are now in sleep mode, facing their first lunar night and hoping that they can survive it.
Before 14 days of darkness descended on the region, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was able to snap some pictures from orbit. Vikram is 2 by 2 meters (6.6 feet) in size, and it is visible in the photograph taken by LRO. Rover Pragyan unfortunately was not.
Vikram is the dark spot in the bright halo of shaken soil.
Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University
LRO has passed over another interesting site recently. There was another mission that was going to land near the South Pole of the Moon: Russia’s Luna-25. Unfortunately, it crash-landed, creating a brand new crater that’s also visible from orbit.
If everything goes well, Vikram and Pragyan should wake up again on September 22 when the first sun rays hit the region once more.
Source Link: The Chandrayaan-3 Moon Lander Has Been Seen From Space
