New Delhi: The Indian Space and Research Organisation took to X (formerly Twitter) Sunday to share the first observations from the ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) payload aboard Vikram lander on the Moon. Since the Vikram lander is the first to reach the lunar south pole, this is also the maiden such profile to be recorded.
In a post, ISRO explained that ChaSTE “measures 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 that can reach 10 cm beneath the surface, said the space agency, adding that the probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors. The agency also shared a graph on the temperature variations on the lunar surface and the near-surface at various depths.
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
ChaSTE was developed by ISRO’s Space Physics Laboratory, located at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, in collaboration with Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.
As already reported by ThePrint, Chandrayaan-3 has seven payloads, six of which are ISRO’s while one is NASA’s. The payloads are distributed among the lander, the rover and the propulsion module — four aboard Vikram (lander), two on Pragyan (rover), and one on the propulsion module that carried the craft from the Earth into the Moon’s orbit.
Apart from ChaSTE, Vikram also has RAMBHA or Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive ionosphere and Atmosphere, the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA), and the Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) payloads.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission, with which India scripted history, becoming only the fourth country to land on the Moon and the first to successfully attempt a soft landing on its southern pole, has completed two out of three of its objectives — “safe and soft landing on the lunar surface” and “demonstration of rover roving on the moon”. According to ISRO, the third objective, “in-situ scientific experiments”, is currently underway.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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