GS Paper - III

Chandrayaan-3, the milestone moon mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), continues to impress science enthusiasts. This time, analysis of data from the Pragyan rover has led to the discovery of an ancient crater with a diameter of 160 km.

More about the crater

• This crater was possibly formed before the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, known as the largest and oldest impact basin on the moon’s surface.
• The discovery was based on the analysis of data transmitted by the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, both of which successfully completed their mission on 3 September 2023, and were then put into sleep mode.
• In a paper published by PRL Ahmedabad scientists, named ‘Chandrayaan-3 landing site evolution by South Pole-Aitken basin and other impact craters’, it is said that the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed (CH-3 landing site) within a buried impact crater, which is much older than the SPA basin, which is located around 350 km from the South Pole-Aitken basin rim.
• Using the Pragyan rover’s Navcam and optical high-resolution camera, ISRO has managed to capture a “semi-circular, heavily degraded structure encompassed around the landing site”.
• It is now being called one of the oldest structures on the moon, which was said to have been buried by debris also known as ejecta materials from the SPA basin and 11 other basins surrounding the same.
• Findings from the Chandrayaan-3 mission have been helping scientists around the world better understand the moon. This could aid upcoming moon missions, including Chandrayaan-4, planned for 2027.