Friday, November 22, 2024

Chandrayan-3’s Vikram lander observes huge temperature variations on moon surface

The  spacecraft’s payload has temperature probe equipped with controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching depth of 10 cm beneath the surface

Bengaluru: The national space agency ISRO said Chandrayaan-3’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) payload onboard the  spacecraft’s Vikram lander measured the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil and found it to be as high as 70 degrees Celsius , a PTI report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says.

Releasing a graph of the temperature variation on the lunar surface a senior scientist of the space agency,  ISRO scientist BHM Darukesha, expressed surprise over the high temperature recorded on the Moon. 

The ISRO update said: “Here are the first observations from the ChaSTE payload onboard Vikram Lander. ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) that measures the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil around the pole to understand the thermal behaviour of the moon’s surface” .

The ISRO scientist Darukesha told PTI: “We all believed that the temperature could be somewhere around 20 degree centigrade to 30 degree centigrade on the surface but it is 70 degree centigrade. This is surprisingly higher than what we had expected.”

The space agency said the payload has a temperature probe equipped with a controlled penetration mechanism capable of reaching a depth of 10 centimetres beneath the surface.

“The probe is fitted with 10 individual temperature sensors. 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 said in a statement.

Darukesha explained, “When we go two to three centimetres inside the Earth, we hardly see two to three degree centigrade variation whereas on the Moon), it is about 50 degree centigrade variation. This is something interesting.”

The temperature dips to minus 10 degree Celsius below the lunar surface, the senior scientist said, adding that the variation is from 70 degree Celsius to minus 10 degree Celsius.

ISRO said the ChaSTE payload was developed by a team led by the Space Physics Laboratory (SPL) of the space agency’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in collaboration with Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

India on August 23 scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat, and first to reach the uncharted south pole of Earth’s only natural satellite.

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