The Pragyan rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission has taken an image of the Vikram lander, the ISRO announced on Wednesday.
The image was taken by the Navigation Camera (NavCam) on board the rover. The NavCams for the Chandrayaan-3 mission were developed by the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems (LEOS), an ISRO unit.
The lander and the rover are designed to operate for one lunar daylight period, which is about 14 Earth days.
Earlier this week, the ISRO released the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram. ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole to understand the thermal behavior of the Moon’s surface.
It has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 centimeters beneath the surface. The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors.
The ISRO released a graph illustrating the temperature variations of the lunar surface/near-surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe’s penetration. This is the first such profile of the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway, the space agency said.
The ISRO has said that two of the three Chandrayaan-3 mission objectives have been achieved: the demonstration of a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface and the demonstration of rover movement on the moon. The third objective, in-situ scientific experiments, is underway.
