Vikram lander of Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon on August 23, 2023.
Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) was deployed to measure moon temperatures near the south pole.
ChaSTE is the first thermal probe to measure in-situ temperatures on the moon.
The probe features 10 temperature sensors spaced 1 cm apart, using a rotation-based deployment mechanism.
Its motor rotates to push the probe into the soil until it clicks into place at 10 cm depth.
Temperature changes indicate when the probe touches the surface and how far it has descended.
Data from ChaSTE showed that water ice is more common on the moon than previously thought.
Previous attempts:
2014: ESA’s Philae lander on comet 67P bounced and couldn’t deploy its temperature probe.
2018: NASA’s InSight lander on Mars had a temperature probe called HP3 ("The Mole") that struggled to penetrate Martian soil and failed to collect data.
Unlike these missions, ChaSTE succeeded because it used a rotating mechanism instead of a hammering device.
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