Bharat’s Chandrayaan 3 mission rover, Pragyan, has made a notable discovery on the lunar surface near its landing site. The rover, commanded by the Vikram lander, identified small rock fragments scattered across craters and slopes, marking a crucial finding in lunar exploration.
Traversing 103 metres in a single lunar day, Pragyan observed an increase in both number and size of rock fragments as it moved westward from the landing site, known as Shiv Shakti point. This points to a nearby crater approximately 10 metres in diametre as a probable source.
Presented at the International Conference on Planets, Exoplanets and Habitability in Ahmedabad, the findings suggest these rock fragments were excavated and redistributed by lunar processes, revealing evidence of space weathering on some fragments.
ISRO Chief S Somanath recently mentioned plans for Chandrayaan 4 to bring back lunar samples from the ‘Shiv Shakti’ point, following successful soft landing of Chandrayaan 3 near the lunar south pole in August 2023.
