The Pragyan rover of India's third lunar exploration -- Chandrayaan-3 -- made a major new discovery on the moon's surface at the southern high-latitude landing site.
According to a new analysis of data from the rover, deployed by the Vikram lander, there have been findings about the distribution of rock fragments at the landing site.
The Pragyan rover traversed around 103 meters on the lunar surface in a single lunar day, marking a significant milestone in India's exploration of the lunar space.
Reportedly, these new findings were revealed in a paper that was presented earlier this year at the International Conference on Planets, Exoplanets and Habitability in Ahmedabad.
Small rock fragments distributed around the rim, wall slopes and the floor of small craters at the landing site were observed by the rover.
The rover's journey, according to an India Today report, took place in an area of notable scientific interest, which is between the Manzinus and Bogulawsky.
The landing site of the Vikram lander -- which carried the rover in its underbelly -- is designated as the "Shiv Shakti Point" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And navigating about 39 metres towards the west of this Shiv Shakti Point, the Pragyan rover started finding an increase number and size of rock fragments.
As per the findings, the size of these rock fragments ranged from one to 11.5 cms. It added that the source behind the fragmented rocks could be a crater, with nearly a 10-metre diameter.
The findings presented at the ICPEH said that this crater likely excavated and redistributed these rock fragments around the west side of the landing site. These fragments were eventually buried multiple times, given the lunar regolith overturning mechanism, the report said.
Subsequently, the Pragyan rover encountered these fragments which were exposed by the small craters.
Of these fragments, two indicated evidence of degradation, suggesting that had been subjected to space weathering. This is an valuable observation on the processes that affect the lunar surface materials with time.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission contributes to getting a more deepened understanding of the geology and composition of the lunar surface.
India's third lunar mission made history on August 23, 2023 after making a soft landing near the south pole of the moon, making the nation to be only the fourth to achieve a 'soft-landing'.
The objectives of Chandrayaan-3, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on lunar surface, to demonstrate rover roving on the moon and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
