Like lots of interested in this rare phenomenon, ESAs New Norcia deep area antenna turned its attention to Earths natural satellite as it came into view. But it wasnt simply the Moon that ESA was interested in.
On August 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed its Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module on the surface area of the Moon. Credit: ISRO
Indias Chandrayaan-3 Mission
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released Chandrayaan-3 on July 14 on an objective to, to name a few things, attain Indias first soft landing on another heavenly body.
On August 23, the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module effectively touched down on the lunar surface area, attaining that objective and making India just the fourth nation to accomplish such a landing.
ESA is offering ground station assistance to the objective: using its antennas worldwide to communicate with the spacecraft, to send out commands to it that manage it in flight and on the surface, and to get important information about the health of the spacecraft and information from its clinical instruments.
Once in a Blue Moon
ESAs New Norcia station, located approximately 140 km (90 miles) north of Perth, Western Australia, is one of those supporting Chandrayaan-3 On August 30, a variety of fortunate coincidences came together to offer a rare view of this assistance in action.
The super blue Moon was at its brightest for observers in Western Australia simply after the regional sunset on August 30. And it was at this time, at around 17:30 AWST (11:30 CEST), that the New Norcia antenna began its latest data exchange session with the Chandrayaan-3 Lander Module on the surface area.
The unusual brightness and the location of the Moon in the sky lined up completely to make it visible in the live web cam targeted at the New Norcia antenna for almost the entire three-and-a-half-hour interaction window.
A very blue Moon is uncommon, a Moon landing is unusual, ESA ground stations supporting an objective on the surface area of the Moon is rare, and the Moon being visible in the New Norcia web cam for an extended amount of time is really uncommon.
But together, they permitted us to capture the ESA antenna chasing the extremely blue Moon and the Chandrayaan-3 Lander across the Australian sky.
What Lies Ahead for Chandrayaan-3.
At the time of the image, the Chandrayaan-3 surface operations were roughly at their midway mark. The scheduled activities came to an end with the end of the lunar daylight.
Their survival into the next lunar day would be the example that only occurs once in a blue Moon.
On August 30, as Western Australia experienced a incredibly blue Moon, a culmination of the calendar blue Moon and supermoon, ESAs New Norcia deep area antenna was tuned in. This interest was twofold: the uncommon lunar event and the Chandrayaan-3 mission by ISRO, which had actually accomplished a soft landing on the Moon previously in August. Credit: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
On August 30, the unusual extremely blue Moon combined with ESAs New Norcia antenna interactions with ISROs Chandrayaan-3 Lander, creating a special celestial and technological spectacle for observers in Western Australia.
As the Sun set in Western Australia on August 30, the Moon rose from the horizon in an especially striking style.
This extremely blue Moon was an unusual mix of a calendar blue Moon– the 2nd moon in a single calendar month– and a supermoon– a complete Moon that occurs when the Moon is at the closest indicate Earth in its orbit.
On August 30, as Western Australia witnessed a extremely blue Moon, a culmination of the calendar blue Moon and supermoon, ESAs New Norcia deep area antenna was tuned in. Credit: ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
At the time of the image, the Chandrayaan-3 surface operations were approximately at their halfway mark. The scheduled activities came to an end with the end of the lunar daytime. At this point, the solar panels on the lander and rover are no longer able to generate power.
