Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander successfully landed on the moon on August 23, 2023, and deployed its ChaSTE probe to measure temperatures near the moon’s south pole. This achievement marks ChaSTE as the first to successfully take temperature readings from lunar soil and provide new insights into water ice presence on the moon.

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• ChaSTE is the first instrument to measure temperatures near the moon’s south pole.
• The probe was deployed after the Vikram lander’s successful touch down on August 23, 2023.
• ChaSTE’s probe inserted itself into the lunar soil, reaching a depth of 10 cm.
• The probe features 10 temperature sensors spaced 1 cm apart along its length.
• The probe uses a rotation-based mechanism to deploy and penetrate the soil.
• Temperature data gathered by ChaSTE indicated more water ice on the moon than previously expected.
• ChaSTE became the first mission to successfully deploy a thermal probe into a celestial body’s soil.
• Previous missions, including ESA’s Philae and NASA’s InSight, failed to deploy similar temperature sensors.
• The unique rotating deployment mechanism of ChaSTE’s probe made it successful where others struggled.
• The probe collected data until September 2, 2023, offering new insights into the moon’s surface temperature.