Watch: ISRO shares video of moon taken moments before Chandrayaan-3 touchdown; says activities on schedule, systems normal

A day after Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing, Vikram lander’s payloads were turned on on Thursday. The rover mobility operations have also begun. "All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal," says ISRO.

Bengaluru:The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a mission update on Thursday that all activities of Chandrayaan-3 are on schedule and that all systems are normal even as it shared a video of the moon's surface taken moments before Wednesday's touchdown.

On Thursday, (August 24, 2023), a day after Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing, Vikram lander’s payloads were turned on. The rover mobility operations have also begun.

"All activities are on schedule. All systems are normal. Lander Module payloads ILSA, RAMBHA and ChaSTE are turned ON today. Rover mobility operations have commenced. SHAPE payload on the Propulsion Module was turned ON on Sunday," ISRO tweeted on Thursday evening.

It also shared a video of the final moments before the landing. "Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown," ISRO said on Site X (formerly Twitter) while sharing the video. On Wednesday, India became the first country to have its rover on the moon's south pole region, which the Indian Space Research Organisation believes could have traces of water.

Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the unchartered lunar south pole at 6.03 p.m. on Wednesday. No country has ever landed on the treacherous south pole that scientists believe could hold important reserves of frozen water and precious elements. Russia's south pole-bound Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the Moon on Sunday after spinning out of control.