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ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment)
Context
India's Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully deployed ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment) near the Moon's south pole in 2023. ChaSTE became the first instrument to measure in-situ temperatures beneath the lunar surface in this region, helping confirm the presence of water ice.
What is ChaSTE?
- ChaSTE is a scientific instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander.
- It is designed to measure thermal properties (like temperature gradients) of the lunar soil. It focused on subsurface temperature up to a depth of 10 cm.
- The instrument was designed by the Physical Research Lab and the Space Physics Lab.
- How it works?
- It uses a rotating mechanism (not hammering) to gently push the probe into the lunar soil.
- It contains 10 temperature sensors, each spaced ~1 cm apart.
- It measures resistance during insertion and temperature at different depths.
- Significance:
- First-ever successful deployment of a thermal probe into the soil of any celestial body.
- Provided critical data about thermal conductivity and water ice presence near the south pole.
- Outperformed previous international missions that failed to gather similar data:
- ESA’s MUPUS (2014) on Comet 67P (failed due to faulty landing).
- NASA’s HP3 “Mole” (2018) on Mars (failed to dig and collect data).
Lunar regolith
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