On 22nd August, Chandrayaan-2 captured the first image of the moon which was released by ISRO on their official website. According to space.com, it arrived in the lunar orbit on 20 August and is currently in preparation for a landing attempt in less than two weeks. 

The mission of Chandrayaan-2 is to explore the unexplored part of the moon-the South Polar region. By conducting typographical studies, comprehensive mineralogical analyses, and other similar experiments, we will get better insights about the origin and the evolution of the moon, as explained by ISRO. 

This will be a first attempt to land on the lunar surface. India would be the fourth country to carry out the landing on the moon, after the USA, Russia and China. It is a Rs 978 crore project and India’s successful attempt to land on the moon.

According to ISRO, Charayaan-2 has released new photos of the moon that shows several craters and captured by Terrain Mapping Camera 2 (TMC-2) on 23rd August 2019 with an altitude of 4375 km. The photos of craters Somerfeld, Kirkwood, Jackson, Mach, Korolev, Mitra, Plaskett, Rozhdestvensky and Hermite are some of the pictures that were released. These craters are named after famous scientists and astronomers. 

According to the Times of India, Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July and is expected landing is around 7 September. 

(Header credits: ISRO)