Lunar far side area as imaged from the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC) onboard Chandrayaan-3 on August 19, 2023

Ahead of the scheduled landing of the Chandrayaan-3 Lander on the moon surface on August 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday released images of the far side of the lunar surface.

The far side is also known as the dark side area of the moon as it is always hidden from the earth. The images were captured on August 19 by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC) which is onboard the Lander.

“Here are the images of Lunar far side area captured by the Lander Hazard Detection and Avoidance Camera (LHDAC). This camera that assists in locating a safe landing area — without boulders or deep trenches — during the descent is developed by ISRO at SAC,” ISRO posted on social media platform X.

Russia’s first lunar mission in decades, Luna-25, which crashed on the moon surface on August 20 had also sent images of the far side of the moon.

ISRO has already released three videos of the moon captured by its third moon mission Chandrayaan-3. One of them was taken by the Lander Position Detection Camera (LPDC) on August 15, 2023.

There was another one taken by the Lander Imager (LI) Camera-1 just after the separation of the Lander Module from the Propulsion Module on August 17. Similarly, on August 6, it shared its first video of the moon as viewed by Chandrayaan-3 during Lunar Orbit Insertion on August 5.

The Lander Module (LM) successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.
| Photo Credit: Twitter/@isro

A day after the lander module (LM) separated from the propulsion module (PM) , it successfully underwent a deboosting operation on August 18.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that the LM successfully underwent a deboosting operation that reduced its orbit to 113 km x 157 km.

Also read: ISRO releases two videos of the Moon on August 18 

The space agency plans to carry out the second deboosting operation on August 20, 2023.

“The second deboosting operation is scheduled for August 20, 2023, around 0200 Hrs. IST,” it said after the first deboosting operation.

The lander is expected to touch down on the moon surface on August 23, 2023 at 5.47 p.m.

On August 17 the propulsion module and the lander module successfully separated and embarked on their respective journeys.

The Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander module, a propulsion module and a rover.

The lander will have the capability to soft land at a specified lunar site and deploy the Rover, which will carry out in-situ chemical analysis of the lunar surface during the course of its mobility. The lander and the rover have scientific payloads to carry out experiments on the lunar surface.

The main function of the propulsion module is to carry the lander module from launch vehicle injection till final lunar 100 km circular polar orbit and separate the Lander Module from the propulsion module.

The propulsion module also has one scientific payload as a value addition which will be operated post-separation of the lander module. The payload will be operational for a period of three to six months. The lander and the rover have a mission life of one lunar day (14 Earth days).