Indian station Chandrayaan-3 sent new photos and data from the Moon

Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 set to work: Vikram lander and Pragyan rover sent their first images and instrument data.

On the first frame, you can see traces of the lunar rover on the ground. The second image shows a four-meter crater, located three meters in front of the rover. As it became a kind of obstacle, the control center gave a command that forced Pragyan to turn around and try to go around him.

While the rover was trying to find its way, the systems of the lander were busy with a surface thermophysical experiment to estimate the temperature of the lunar soil. It turned out that it ranges from -10 ºC at a depth of 10 cm to about 60 ºC at the surface.

These data surprised experts, since it was previously believed that the temperature on the surface of the moon could be from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius, but it is noticeably higher.

In addition to temperature sensors, the LIBS spectroscope was used, which confirmed the presence of sulfur on the lunar surface, as well as aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese and silicon.

One element that scientists are particularly keen to find is hydrogen. It can be an indicator of the presence of water in the form of ice or permafrost near the surface. This is one of the main objectives of the mission.

Automatic interplanetary station Chandrayaan-3 committed soft landing on the moon on August 23. India became the fourth country that succeeded (after the USSR, the USA and China). The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have a 14-day lunar day window for all experiments. They will then face a freezing moonlit night that will likely put them out of action forever.