Chandrayaan-3 ChaSTE

Chandrayaan-3 ChaSTE Latest News

Chandrayaan-3’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) became the first instrument to measure in situ temperatures near the moon’s south pole.

•  It successfully penetrated lunar soil and deployed a thermal probe, achieving what two previous missions—ESA’s Philae (2014) and NASA’s InSight HP3 (2018)—could not.
• This experiment provided crucial data on lunar surface temperatures, strengthening evidence of water ice deposits.

How ChaSTE Works

• ChaSTE’s thermal probe was integrated into the Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3, which landed on August 23, 2023.
• The probe is equipped with 10 temperature sensors placed 1 cm apart along its length, near the nose-tip.
• It uses a rotation-based deployment mechanism instead of a hammering device, which played a crucial role in its success.
• The motor rotates, pushing the probe downward until the tip touches the Moon’s surface.
• As the probe continues to penetrate deeper, the increasing resistance from the lunar soil helps determine how far it has descended.
• ChaSTE successfully reached a depth of 10 cm in the Moon’s regolith, where it continuously monitored temperature variations until September 2, 2023.
• The final temperature readings from the deep lunar soil confirmed thermal properties essential for lunar exploration.

Comparisons with Previous Missions

• ESA’s Philae lander (2014) on Comet 67P: It carried the MUPUS instrument to measure surface and subsurface temperatures. Failed due to an awkward landing, preventing the probe from being deployed properly.
• NASA’s InSight lander (2018) on Mars: Included the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package (HP3), featuring a self-hammering nail nicknamed "The Mole" designed to penetrate 5 meters underground.
  • Encountered low friction in Martian sand, preventing it from burrowing deep enough to collect meaningful temperature data.
  • The temperature sensors were attached to a tether, not on the mole itself, which made data collection impossible.

Chandrayaan-3 ChaSTE FAQs

Q1. What is Chandrayaan-3?
Ans. It is India's third lunar mission, launched by ISRO, with the objective of soft-landing near the Moon's south pole.

Q2. What does ChaSTE stand for?
Ans. ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) is an instrument on the Vikram lander to measure lunar soil temperature.

Q3. Why is ChaSTE important?
Ans. It provides data on temperature variations beneath the lunar surface, helping in future Moon exploration missions.

Source: TH