Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday (October 17) took to Twitter to share the first illuminated image of the lunar surface acquired by Imaging Infrared Spectrometer (IIRS) payload. 

The image shows part of the lunar further in the northern hemisphere. It covers Sommmerfield crater floor, the sunlit inner rim of crater Kirkwood, Stebbins crater floor, fresh crater Ejecta within Sommerfield crater floor, and Stebbins crater central peak.

"See the first illuminated image of the lunar surface acquired by # Chandrayaan2's IIRS payload. IIRS is designed to measure reflected sunlight from the lunar surface in narrow and contiguous spectral channels," a tweet from the ISRO read.

 

The space agency also said that Chandrayaan 2 began spectroscopic studies of the lunar surface. 

On their official website, ISRO said that the major objective of IIRS is to understand the origin and evolution of the Moon in a geologic context by mapping the lunar surface mineral and volatile composition using signatures in the reflected solar spectrum.

On August 20, Chandrayaan 2 entered the Moon's orbit and went through a series of lunar orbit manoeuvres. 

On September 7, Vikram Lander attempted a soft landing on the Moon surface but lost signal with the ground station during the Fine Breaking Phase.