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7th April 2025 (16 Topics)

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

  • Lunar regolith is the unconsolidated surface layer of the Moon.
  • It is made up of rock chips, mineral fragments, impact and volcanic glasses and a peculiar component only found on the Moon called “agglutinates”.

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