First moon image captured by Chandrayaan-2 taken at a height of 2650 km from lunar surface

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the first moon image captured by Chandrayaan-2 on August 21, 2019. The picture is said to be taken at the height of about 2650 km from the lunar surface. Mare Orientale basin and Apollo craters are also identified in the picture.

The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully placed Chandrayaan-2 into the lunar orbit on Tuesday morning. Chandrayaan-2 will now be performing four more orbit maneuvers to place the spacecraft into its final orbit before the crucial landing on the moon surface on September 7.

India’s second lunar exploration spacecraft Chandrayaan-2 took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on July 22, after its first launch attempt was aborted due to a technical glitch on July 15. Onboard, the Chandrayaan-2 was an orbiter, a lander (Vikram) and a rover (Pragyan). The orbiter carries eight scientific instruments, two of them are improved versions of those flown on Chandrayaan-1.

The main objective of Chandrayaan-2 is to explore the southernmost region of the moon. If everything goes according to the plan, India will become the first country to land a man-made object on the south polar region of the moon. The mission has cost Rs 978 crores (approximately) to the Indian taxpayers.