ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 Makes Significant Discovery at Shiv Shakti Point. What's Next?

New Delhi: India's moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has made a significant and interesting encounter on the lunar surface near its landing point. According to the recent findings, the Pragyan rover, deployed and commanded by Vikram Lander spotted ‘small rock fragments’ around the rim, wall slopes and floor of a small crater in the southern high-altitude region.

As per the findings, the number and size of rock fragments increased when the Pragyan rover navigated almost 39 metres toward the west of the landing site, the 'Shiv Shakti point' - Chandrayaan-3's landing zone, a name given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Furthermore, a plausible source for the encountered rock fragments could also be a nearly 10-metre diameter crater, the report said.

Two of the rock fragments discovered evidence of degradation, indicating that they have been subjected to 'space weathering.'

According to experts, these results could provide a significant step in lunar and space exploration as it will provide support to studies that suggest gradual coarsening of rock fragments in the interior of lunar regolith.

This recent discovery will contribute to enhancing the understanding of space, the lunar surface and surface composition.

Earlier, India's Chandrayaan-3 found elements on the Moon: ISRO's Chandrayaan-3's Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Pragyaan rover confirmed the presence of Sulphur (S) on the lunar surface.

Furthermore, elements like Aluminum (Al), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), Titanium (Ti), Manganese (Mn), Silicon (Si), and Oxygen (O) were also detected.

Temperature Recorded on the Lunar Surface: On 27 August 2023,  ISRO released a graph of the temperature variation on the moon and a senior scientist of the space agency also expressed surprise over the high temperature recorded on the lunar surface.

In a post on X, ISRO stated that the temperature varies between -10 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius within a short depth change of -80 mm below the lunar surface to 20 mm above the mean height.

"This is the first such profile for the lunar south pole. Detailed observations are underway," ISRO said.