In a first, Chandrayaan-3 shares observations of soil temperature on lunar south pole

Four days after its successful soft-landing, Chandrayaan-3 achieved a major feat on Sunday (August 27) by profiling the soil of the moon’s south pole for the first time ever in the history of world space science.

ISRO shared these observations on its official Twitter handle on Sunday. This is the first time that a temperature profiling of lunar soil around the south pole is being done as India has become the first country to have soft landed on the south pole of the moon. The space agency also shared a graph on the variation of the moon’s soil temperature at various depths.

“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 surface. It 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,” it said on Twitter.

"The presented graph illustrates the temperature variations of the lunar surface/near-surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe's penetration. This is the first such profile for the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway,” ISRO tweeted. In the graph, the temperatures range from -10 degree Celsius to 60 degree Celsius.

In a significant achievement for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on August 23, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.

With this touchdown on the Moon after a flawless 41-day voyage to script history, India is the fourth country to master the technology of soft-landing on the Moon after the US, China and the erstwhile Soviet Union. The breakthrough came after the failure of Chandrayaan-2 in 2019.

ISRO chief S Somnath earlier explained that they chose the south pole of the moon as their experiment site as the lesser-known south pole may have the potential that can host humans in future. The south pole of the moon is less illuminated by the sun. Now that Chandrayaan-3 gives a clear picture of the soil temperature, its variation, scientists will now decipher what potential moon’s south pole soil actually holds.