Chandrayaan-3: India’s lunar lander Vikram sends close-up photos of Moon

BBC News:

India’s space agency has released latest images of the Moon as its third lunar mission starts descending towards the little-explored south pole.

The pictures have been taken by Vikram, Chandrayaan-3’s lander, which began the last phase of its mission on Thursday.

Vikram, which carries a rover in its belly, is due to land near the south pole on 23 August.

The lander detached from the propulsion module, which carried it close to the Moon, on Thursday.

The black-and-white images show close-ups of rocks and craters on the Moon’s surface. One of the photographs shows the propulsion module too.

Chandrayaan-3 and Russia’s Luna-25 are among the two spacecraft headed towards the Moon’s south pole and both are expected to land next week.

Luna-25 – Russia’s first Moon mission since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union – was launched last week and is expected to make history by making a soft landing on 21st or 22nd August, just days before the Indian touchdown. If it succeeds, Chandrayaan-3 will have to settle for being a close second in reaching the south pole.