Chandrayaan-3 To Get India's 1st 'Selfie' From Moon? What ISRO Chief Said

Could the touchdown of Chandrayaan-3's lander Vikram and the release of its rover Pragyan present India with its first 'selfie' opportunity from the Moon? This is the question NDTV posed to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S Somanath, who said there will be plenty of images beamed down to Earth.

In an exclusive interview, during which he also spoke about the lessons learnt from Chandrayaan-2, the data that will be collected from the latest mission and the possibility of human habitation on the Moon, Mr Somanath said the lander will be capturing images of the rover as it leaves to explore the lunar surface.

The ISRO chief said, "Of course, when the rover comes out, a sequence of processes will be required. When the door opens, a rail track will be deployed for the rover to come out and all of this will be imaged by a camera on board the lander, which will cover the rover as well as the terrain of the Moon. So we will see the rover coming out against the background of the moon and the dark sky,"

"The rover will actually make a round of the lander. At that time, there are other cameras on the lander which will take pictures of this. So you will be able to see the rover from the cameras of the lander and cameras on the rover will also take pictures of the lander," he added.

Chandrayaan-3 is scheduled to launch today at 2.35 pm from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The lander is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on August 23 or 24.

The mission has three primary objectives: To demonstrate a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface; to demonstrate the rover's roving capabilities on the Moon; and to conduct scientific experiments.