New videos show the Chandrayaan-3 rover approaching the moon

Wild new footage from the moon’s surface has appeared after a historic and successful space mission this week.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has just released incredible new close-up footage of the moon after a successful soft landing.

Earlier this week, India became the first country to land an unmanned craft near the lunar south pole as The Chandrayaan-3 touched down on Wednesday.

The achievement has locked India in as one of only four countries to successfully complete a soft landing – where the spacecraft doesn’t suffer significant damage during landing – on the moon, alongside the United States, Russia, and China.

Now, new footage from the Lander Imager Camera on the Chandrayaan-3 has shown the final moments before the craft landed on the lunar surface.

Craters can be seen flitting by as the craft approached the lunar south pole in the high quality video.

Here is how the Lander Imager Camera captured the moon's image just prior to touchdown. pic.twitter.com/PseUAxAB6G

— ISRO (@isro) August 24, 2023

Footage of the ramp and solar panel being deployed was also released by the ISRO, with a third video showing the Chandrayaan-3 Rover going down the ramp before officially rolling onto the Moon’s surface.

In a Twitter post, ISRO explained that the solar panel generated power for the rover, and a two-segment ramp led the way for the rover to touch base on the moon’s surface.

... ... and here is how the Chandrayaan-3 Rover ramped down from the Lander to the Lunar surface. pic.twitter.com/nEU8s1At0W

— ISRO (@isro) August 25, 2023

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told ISRO staff that this success will lead the way for future missions.

“The region that our mission will explore will help open new avenues for moon missions of other countries,” the Prime Minister said.

“This will not only unravel the mysteries of the Moon but also help in resolving the challenges of the Earth.”

He also praised the scientists behind the mission, with the milestone coming just four years after a failed lunar mission.
“I salute your hard work, patience, perseverance and passion,” he said.
It seems as though India was able to achieve this milestone at a lower cost than missions from other countries, with the Chandrayaan-3 costing a total of $US74.6 million ($117 million).

Just taking it for a quick spin. Picture: ISRO

The low costs come from adapting existing technology, however the highly skilled engineers behind the mission reportedly earn much less than the wages of their foreign counterparts.

The main objectives of the mission, according to ISRO, are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the moon, demonstrate the rover roving on the moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments, including a spectrometer analysis of the mineral composition of the moon’s surface.
ISRO’s next mission is set to take place over the next year, with plans to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit.

A joint mission with Japan is also on the cards, where another probe could be sent to the moon by 2025, and an orbital mission to Venus could take place.