Chandrayaan-3’s Pragyan Rover makes important findings
- In Reports
- 12:38 PM, Jul 03, 2024
- Myind Staff
According to a recent data analysis from the Pragyan Rover exploration, India's Chandrayaan 3 mission has come up with important findings about the lunar surface of the moon's south pole. Deployed by the Vikram lander after the lunar touchdown on August 23, the Pragyan Rover traversed 103 metres on the lunar surface during a single lunar day.
The Pragyan rover observed a surge in both the number and size of rock fragments as it traveled 39 meters west of Shiv Shakti Point, the Chandrayaan-3 landing site named by PM Narendra Modi. This journey took place in the Nectarian Plain, situated between the Manzinus and Boguslawsky craters—an area of particular interest to scientists.
The fragments were discovered scattered around the rims, wall slopes, and floors of small craters, each no more than 2 meters in diameter. Presented earlier this year at the International Conference on Planets, Exoplanets, and Habitability, the new findings reveal an intriguing trend: both the number and size of rock fragments increased as the rover travelled approximately 39 meters westward from its landing site.
These findings confirm previous studies that suggested a gradual coarsening of rock fragments within the lunar regolith. This new discovery will help shape strategies for potential resource utilisation on the moon.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission marked a significant milestone for India as it became the first country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the lunar south pole and the fourth country to soft-land a spacecraft on the moon, after the Soviet Union, the US and China.
Image source: ISRO/Twitter
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