The image was provided following the successful landing of India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission on August 23, 2023. Photo: Indian Space Research Organization/AP
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released a graph Sunday showing temperature variations on the lunar surface. “The first observations” were made with the ChaSTE instrument onboard the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s Vikram lander.
“ChaSTE (Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment) measures the temperature profile of the upper layer of the lunar soil around the pole to understand the thermal behavior of the lunar surface,” the agency’s publication reads on social networks.
The device is equipped with a temperature probe that has a mechanism that can penetrate the lunar soil to a depth of 10 centimeters., in addition to carrying 10 individual temperature sensors. “The graph shown illustrates the temperature variations on the lunar surface and near the lunar surface at different depths recorded during the probe’s incursion. This is the first profile of this kind for the lunar south pole,” reports ISRO.
The data obtained from the device amazed the team at the facility. “We all thought the temperature on the surface could be between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, but it’s 70 degrees Celsius. This is surprisingly more than we expected,” said ISRO scientist BHM Darukesha.
“If we go two to three centimeters into the interior of the earth, we hardly see a variation of two to three degrees Celsius, while the variation there (on the moon) is about 50 degrees Celsius. That’s an interesting thing,” he said.
Launched on July 14, the Chandrayaan-3 mission consists of a lander and a rover. A series of scientific experiments aimed at studying the mineral composition of the lunar soil are expected to be conducted.
(Taken from RT in Spanish)