The Chandrayaan-3 mission’s exploration vehicle has significantly contributed to understanding the lunar surface for Indian scientists. What are the specifics?
Moon Mysteries Unveiled
According to a recent report by Business Today, the Chandrayaan-3 mission from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has brought to light a mystery about the Moon: the wheels of the Pragyan rover do not leave clear tracks on the lunar surface.
Surprisingly, this is good news for scientists as it provides new insights into the unique properties of lunar soil in the South Pole region.
Reconstruction of the wheel tracks of the Pragyan rover on the Moon. (Source: ISRO).
Understanding lunar soil is crucial since the South Pole could become a significant site for future crewed missions.
After examining the photographs of the wheel tracks made by Pragyan on the Moon, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath explained: “The lunar soil is not dusty but clumped together. This means that something is binding the soil together. We need to study what is binding the lunar soil.”
Before launching the Chandrayaan-3 mission, ISRO conducted tests for the Pragyan rover rolling on Earth-based lunar-like soil (created by ISRO in a lab known as lunar soil simulant or LSS), and found that the tracks it left were clear, resembling footprints in sand.
However, when Pragyan attempted to create tracks on the actual lunar surface, it did not function in the same manner as ISRO’s experiments. The tracks it left were unclear and quite chaotic.
This indicates that the lunar soil differs from ISRO’s expectations. This secret opens up numerous unique aspects that ISRO will need to investigate further.
India Holds onto Hope
Several days have passed since the Sun returned to the Moon (on September 21), but the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has yet to establish contact with the duo of spacecraft Vikram and Pragyan from the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Since entering sleep mode on September 2, Vikram and Pragyan have not “woken up.” Nevertheless, ISRO continues to strive to awaken the two spacecraft until the next sunset on October 6.
The Vikram and Pragyan spacecraft remain “deep asleep” despite the Sun returning to the Moon on September 21, 2023. (Source: ISRO).
Space scientists in India told BBC that the chances of India’s lunar lander waking up after a cold lunar night are “diminishing hour by hour.” However, they will continue to attempt to make contact until nighttime falls again.
N. M. Desai, Director of the Space Application Centre (SAC) at ISRO, revealed that reviving the lander and rover is an automatic process that cannot be triggered remotely from Earth.
The SAC Director stated that the chance of revival is 50/50. Success depends on the survival of the spacecraft’s electronics in the freezing temperatures of the lunar night.
Alongside efforts to reconnect with Vikram and Pragyan, ISRO’s ground engineers are diligently analyzing the data that the two spacecraft sent back to Earth after one lunar day (equivalent to 14 Earth days) of operations on the natural satellite.
Former ISRO Chairman K. Sivan declared that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is not yet over as scientists still have much data to process and analyze. It is expected that many new scientific discoveries will be announced.
India made history with the Chandrayaan-3 mission by becoming the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole. (Source: NDTV).
Speaking to Times of India, K. Sivan, who led the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019 as Chairman, stated: “The mission of Vikram and Pragyan is nearly complete as the duo was designed to accomplish all their tasks within just 14 Earth days.”
K. Sivan added that temperatures near the Moon’s South Pole can drop to -200 degrees Celsius to -250 degrees Celsius at night.
Regarding the data from Chandrayaan-3, the former ISRO chairman noted: “This data is invaluable. The analysis of the data we received from the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover is not yet complete. Scientists will certainly uncover new scientific discoveries from this data and will announce them as soon as possible.”
Chandrayaan-1’s instrument found small amounts of water and hydroxyl (in blue) on the lunar surface. (Photo: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS)
Recently, Times of India reported that scientists from a U.S. university are studying data from the Chandrayaan-1 mission (2008-2009) and have discovered that high-energy electrons in Earth’s plasma belt contribute to weathering on the lunar surface, and these electrons may have aided in the formation of water on the lunar surface.
This suggests that even 14 years after the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the scientific community continues to make surprising discoveries from the dataset collected by the spacecraft and sent back to Earth.
NASA stated that Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first deep space mission (and its first trip to the Moon). The scientific objectives of Chandrayaan-1 included mapping the chemical, mineralogical, and photogeological characteristics of the Moon.
India made history with the Chandrayaan-3 mission by becoming the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the Moon’s South Pole (on August 23, 2023).
The country’s space agency has been providing regular updates on the findings of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover on the Moon. Key discoveries from the Indian duo include: the detection of sulfur along with many “terrestrial elements” on the Moon; measuring lunar temperatures; and the Vikram lander successfully performing a “hop” on the Moon.
