The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday said that the Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyaan rover came across a 4-meter diameter crater positioned 3 meters ahead of its location on the lunar surface.
The ISRO shared the images on X and 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.”
ISRO, in a historic achievement, on August 23 (Wednesday), successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 on the far side of the Moon, becoming the first country in the world to achieve this milestone.
ISRO on Sunday released the first observations from Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) payload on the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander.
ChaSTE has measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the Moon’s south pole, ISRO said in its latest statement. The space agency said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, that ChaSTE has a ‘temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm beneath the surface.’ The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors.
ISRO has released a graph that shows the variation of lunar surface temperature with depth. The probe recorded the temperature variations of the lunar surface and near-surface at various depths. According to ISRO, Chandrayaan-3 has produced the first temperature-depth profile of the Moon’s south pole.
Earlier on Sunday, talking about the Pragyaan rover which is roaming the surface of the Moon, collecting data, ISRO chief S Somanath said that everything is on track and all experiments are expected to be completed in the next few days.
“Everything is working very well. #Chandrayaan3, the lander, the rover is very healthy and all the five instruments on board have been switched on. And it’s giving beautiful data now. So we are hoping that in the days to come next another ten more days remaining before 3rd September, we should be able to complete all the experiments with its full capability of various modes. There are different modes for which it has to be tested… So we have the best picture ever of the Moon,” he said.
Somanath said that he explores both science and spirituality for which he visits temples and reads scriptures. He said that he does science for outer self and visits temples for inner self.
