The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been regularly providing the latest updates about the lunar surface as part of its ongoing experimentation under the Chandrayaan-3 mission. In a fresh development, ISRO revealed that on the 27th of August, the Pragyan rover encountered a massive crater spanning around 4 meters in diameter while it was roaming on the lunar surface for conducting in-situ experimentation.
Subsequently, a command was sent to the rover asking it to retrace the path. In the post, the mission team further stated that the rover then safely headed towards a new path.
Taking to X, ISRO said, “On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location. The Rover was commanded to retrace the path. It’s now safely heading on a new path.”
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 28, 2023
On August 27, 2023, the Rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location.
The Rover was commanded to retrace the path.
It's now safely heading on a new path.#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3 pic.twitter.com/QfOmqDYvSF
The space agency also shared two high-quality pictures taken by the Navigation camera. The first picture attached is of the massive crater which was located on the earlier path of the Pragyan rover. The other one shows the retraced path taken by the rover.
A day earlier on 27 August, ISRO shared the first set of data regarding the thermophysical properties of the lunar south pole. The data was obtained from the ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) payload which is onboard the Vikram lander.
Taking to X, ISRO shared the information along with a graph that displayed the temperature variations of the lunar surface or near-surface at various depths.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 27, 2023
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
As per ISRO, this was the first temperature profile for the lunar south pole and it revealed that the surface temperature at the moon’s south pole was around 50°C and it goes up sharply with the increase in altitude, which is 60°C just 2 cm above the surface.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
— ISRO (@isro) August 26, 2023
🔍What's new here?
Pragyan rover roams around Shiv Shakti Point in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole 🌗! pic.twitter.com/1g5gQsgrjM
Prior to that, ISRO shared a 40-second video in which the Pragyan rover roamed around the ShivShakti point and displayed its manouvering capabilities.
With more and more updates, ISRO is shedding more light on the deep dark secrets of the dark side of the moon which had been a hard nut to crack prior to this mission.
