One small hop for ISRO's Vikram lander and a giant leap towards deciphering secrets of lunar geology. India's Chandrayaan-3 mission continues to throw surprises well after it completed its historic mission.

The new understanding opens doors for NASA to set up a permanent base on the lunar surface through its Artemis mission.

In the closing hours of one of India's most historic space missions, the Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander performed an unplanned manoeuvre that is now reshaping scientific understanding of the Moon's south polar surface.

What began as a last minute call to use leftover fuel has turned into a landmark experiment revealing that the lunar soil at Shiv Shakti Point is far more diverse and complex than previously believed.

Chandrayaan 3, launched on July 14, 2023, was designed to demonstrate India's ability to achieve a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, a goal that had eluded the Chandrayaan 2 mission. On August 23, 2023, Vikram successfully touched down near the Moon's South Pole, making India the first country in the world to land in this unexplored region.

The mission, equipped with the Pragyan rover and multiple scientific payloads, was intended to operate for roughly one lunar day or about 14 Earth days.

During this period, instruments such as the Chandra's Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) began examining the thermal and physical properties of lunar soil called lunar regolith, providing the first in situ measurements from this high latitude terrain.

Source:Ndtv