Vikram Lander, which was part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, made a big discovery about the Moon. A team of scientists from India Space Research Organisation's (ISRO's) Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad performed morphological and topographic analysis within the Chandrayaan-3 landing site, also known as the Shiv Shakti point, reported The Indian Express.
The study revealed that the region where the Chandrayaan-3 landed on the lunar surface is 3.7 billion years old. Notably, it coincides with the time when primitive microbial life first emerged on Earth. The scientists were able to make the discovery with the help of data generated by the Pragyan rover which is inside the Vikram lander, reported the media house.
The team of scientists created the first geological map of the site. High-end imaging techniques, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter wide-angle camera, were reportedly used for gathering crater and rock distribution data for the Moon's surface near the place where the Chandrayaan-3 landed.
The scientists observed several rock fragments, which were reportedly over 1 cm in size, at the landing site. This geological map revealed that there were numerous craters with three distinct terrain types. These terrain types are - high-relief rugged terrain, high-relief smooth plains, and low-relief smooth plains. Notably, high-relief rugged terrain has hills and rough surfaces, while smooth plains have flat areas having fewer surface features. Low-relief smooth plains comprise relatively flat regions having slight variations in elevation.
"For the low-relief smooth plains, the area that hosts the landing site, the best-fit age is about 3.7 Ga (billion years), done using 25 craters (diameter 500-1,150 metres)," the researchers said as reported by The Indian Express.
The Chandrayaan-3's landing point is surrounded by craters, including Manzinus, Boguslawsky, and Schomberger. The scientists noticed that debris from the nearby Schomberger crater covered the area. There were boulders, some even more than five metres in size located 14 km from the landing site of the Chandrayaan-3, reported India Today. The Pragyan rover revealed smaller rock fragments near a 10-meter-wide crater, which is located west of the Shiv Shakti Point.
India achieved a historic feat after the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on the Monn's South Pole on August 23, 2023. With this achievement, India became the fourth country to make a soft landing on the lunar surface and the first to reach the Moon's South Pole.
