New Delhi: The Chandrayaan-3 lander, which landed on the lunar surface, is now conducting its planned experiments and sending back valuable data to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ISRO put out the first ever recorded observations on Sunday.
ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment), which was onboard the Vikram lander, measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon’s surface.
The payload has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm beneath the moon’s surface. The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors.
ISRO presented a graph that illustrates the temperature variations of the lunar surface/near-surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe’s penetration.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
Here are the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram Lander.ChaSTE (Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole, to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon's… pic.twitter.com/VZ1cjWHTnd
— ISRO (@isro) August 27, 2023
ISRO further highlighted that this is the first such profile for the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway.
India took a giant leap on Wednesday evening as the Chandrayaan-3 lander module successfully landed on the moon’s South Pole, making it the first country to have achieved the historic feat and bringing to an end the disappointment over the crash landing of the Chandrayaan-2 four years ago.
India became the fourth country—after the US, China, and Russia—to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface. The spacecraft was launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota on July 14.