The Indian Chandrayaan-3 mission, after a successful landing, went to work on the south pole of the Moon. The Pragyan rover moved for several days while the Vikram probe drilled into the lunar soil and sent back temperature data.

The Vikram lander has an instrument called the Chandra Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE), and this instrument measured the temperature 10 cm below the surface of the lunar soil, concluding that while it was 45 C on the surface, at a depth of 8 cm it was 10 degrees lower. At 9 and 10 cm, the temperature continued to rise.

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ChaSTE is designed to measure and profile the temperature of the lunar soil, is capable of reaching a depth of 10 cm and has ten different measuring sensors.

These are the first such measurements made at the Moon’s south pole, and more information will follow in the coming days.

India has successfully placed the Vikram probe and the Pragyan rover on the south pole of the moon, which on August 24 began exploring lunar craters where frozen water is expected to exist.

Vikram has four instruments on board, one of which is a thermal probe, which has already analyzed the temperature and other properties of the soil on the moon. Vikram also has a seismograph.

There are eight days left in the mission.

Sources: Times of India, Indian Express