Chandrayaan-3 data says water ice easier to find on moon than believed

• Researchers from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad have discovered that the moon’s area where water ice can be easily accessed is greater than expected.
• The study aims to provide a more detailed understanding of the moon’s thermal environment and ice distribution, laying the groundwork for future exploration and habitation strategies.
• The first step to understanding the moon’s water availability is to know the temperature on the surface.
• The study was based on ground-level observations made by Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission whose Vikram lander touched down on the moon in August 2023.
• The team used the Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) onboard the Vikram lander to measure the temperature of the top 10 cm of lunar regolith at 69.373° south and 32.319° east.
• The peak surface temperature at the site was found to be 82º C, which was higher than those predicted by the Diviner instrument onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).
• The temperature dropped drastically to roughly –181º C at night, indicating that actual surface temperature at high latitude locations can go to both high and low extremes.
• The team attributed the higher-than-expected daytime temperature to the sun-facing slope of the location.
• The team built a model based on the ChaSTE measurements to investigate lunar temperatures at different locations with different orientations.
• The study presents the first in-situ measurements of temperature at a high latitude region on the moon, offering accurate data on surface and near-surface temperatures close to the polar regions.