Chandrayaan-3's lander connects with command centre; ISRO shares first image of Moon after landing

Chandrayaan-3: Hours after ISRO successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 on the southern pole of the Moon, the space agency said the communication line had been established between the lander Vikram and its command centre in Bengaluru. The space agency also shared the first image of the lunar surface after landing.

The ISRO also shared images of the lunar surface taken by the Lander Horizontal Velocity Camera taken during the descent, which began at 5:45 pm this evening. Chandrayaan-3, which comprises a lander and rover, landed on the southern pole at 6:04 pm. 

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ISRO chief S Somanath thanked all the scientists and other countries that helped the space agency on its lunar mission. He said the rover would roll down from the lander in a few hours or could even take a day.

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The US space agency NASA congratulated ISRO on the successful landing of its Chandrayaan-3 on the southern region, where no other country has gone so far. India has become the first country to land on the southern pole of the Moon. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said: "Congratulations @isro on your successful  Chandrayaan-3 lunar South Pole landing! And congratulations to #India on being the 4th country to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. We’re glad to be your partner on this mission!"

The ISRO chief thanked NASA for its support during Chandrayaan-3's journey to the Moon. Chandrayaan-3 lander carries an auxiliary instrument, named 'Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA)' that belongs to NASA. This lightweight structure with eight Retroreflectors can serve as a long-term geodetic station and a location marker on the lunar surface, the ISRO said in a note giving details of the making of Chandrayaan-3.

The ISRO got help from NASA's ground stations located in the USA, Spain, and Australia. Besides NASA, ISRO also received help from the European Space Agency's ground stations located in French Guiana, the UK, and Australia. The Swedish Space Corporation's ground stations located in Chile and the US helped ISRO.

By successfully landing its spacecraft on the Moon, India has joined the elite club of three countries that have achieved this feat. India has now become the fourth country to successfully soft land on the Moon after the US, China, and Russia. Not only that, India has now become the first country to land on the south pole of the Moon.   

Russia recently sent another moon mission, the first in 47 years, to land on the southern pole but its spacecraft Luna-25 crashed-landed two days before the planned touch down during a pre-landing manoeuver, dashing the hope of Moscow which was trying to regain its prominence in space exploration.   

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sent a congratulatory message to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Modi on the successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon. "Please, accept my heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of the successful landing of the Indian space station Chandrayaan-3 on the Moon near its South Pole," he said. 

"This is a big step forward in space exploration and certainly a testament to the impressive progress made by India in the area of science and technology. Kindly convey my sincere congratulations and best wishes for new achievements to the leadership and staff of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)."

The European Space Agency (ESA) congratulated the ISRO on this historic landing. Rolf Densing, Director of Operations at ESA's ESOC mission operations centre in Germany's Darmstadt, said the ESA was proud to support the Chandrayaan-3 mission. "Our ground stations are a core element of ESA's support to its international partners, and I am pleased that with this activity, we are further strengthening ESA's relationship with ISRO and with India. I look forward to supporting further pioneering ISRO missions, such as Aditya-L1, in the future."

The ESA said it is providing deep space communication support to the Chandrayaan-3. It said communication is an essential part of every space mission. "Ground stations on Earth keep operators connected to spacecraft as they venture into the unknown. Without ground station support, it's impossible to get any data from a spacecraft, to know how it's doing, to know if it is safe or even to know where it is."