Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down about 600 km from Moon's south pole, says NASA releases image

Bengaluru: US space agency NASA has released an image of Chandrayaan-3 lander ‘Vikram’ on the lunar surface, which was captured by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

The Chandrayaan-3 lander is in the centre of the image, and its dark shadow is visible against the bright halo surrounding the Vikram.

“@NASA’s LRO spacecraft recently imaged the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon’s surface. The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) Chandrayaan-3 touched down on Aug 23, 2023, about 600 kilometres from the Moon’s South Pole,” NASA said on social media platform ‘X’.

NASA said its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) acquired an oblique view (42-degree slew angle) of the lander four days later. The bright halo around the vehicle resulted from the rocket plume interacting with the fine-grained regolith (soil).