Indian lunar rover transmitted unexpected data on the surface of the moon (4 photos)

It turned out to be much hotter than scientists expected.





The first scientific data obtained by the Indian lunar rover "Pragyan" in many ways change the idea of the South Pole of the Moon, writes Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on social media X (formerly Twitter). An Indian rover measured the temperature of the regolith, and it turned out to be more than twice as high as expected - 70 degrees Celsius versus 20-30 degrees.

"ChaSTE (surface thermophysical experiment "Chandra") measures the temperature of the upper layer of the lunar soil around the pole, to understand the temperature regime on the surface of the moon," the ISRO message.



The publication specifies that the lunar rover is equipped with a sensor temperature with a mechanism capable of measuring the temperature of the regolith at depth up to 10 cm

ISRO has released a temperature chart showing illustrated changes in the temperature of the lunar surface on various depths recorded by the Lunokhod probe.

"This is the first such profile of the South Pole of the Moon," ISRO added.





temperature graph

ISRO researcher Bee Darukesha said the findings were surprising to the researchers.

"We all believed that surface temperatures could be between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius, but it is 70 degrees Celsius. This is surprisingly higher than we expected." He.

It is not yet known how the obtained temperature data the surface of the South Pole of the Moon will affect further searches for water and plans to build lunar bases in the area.



Lunar rover "Pragyan" will work in the vicinity of the South Pole The moons are one lunar day (14 Earth days). During this time, the rover must have time get data on the soil, relief and tectonic activity in the area research.