Pragyan Rover made a big discovery on the moon
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission completed its successful mission on the Moon in 2023 but even after that it is continuously making new discoveries. Data sent back by the Pragyan Rover from the south polar region of the Moon has now led to the discovery of an ancient crater. The Pragyan Rover has discovered an ancient buried crater 160 kilometers wide near its landing site on the Moon. The findings by scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad have been published in the latest issue of Science Direct.
This significant discovery was made when the Pragyan rover crossed the high terrain at its landing site, about 350 kilometres from the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the largest and oldest basin on the Moon’s surface.
The crater is believed to have formed before the formation of the South Pole-Aitken basin, making it one of the oldest geological structures on the Moon. Due to the crater’s age, it was mostly buried by debris from later impacts, particularly the South Pole-Aitken event, and has been eroded over time. Images taken by the Pragyan rover’s navigation and optical high-resolution cameras revealed the structure of this ancient crater, providing important clues about the Moon’s geological history.
The discovery of the crater provides scientists with a rare opportunity to study deeply buried lunar material that dates back to some of the earliest impacts on the Moon. Landing sites, rich in material from past impacts, have been a hotbed for lunar exploration.
The South Pole-Aitken basin contributed about 1,400 meters of debris, while smaller craters and basins added hundreds of meters of material to the landscape. This ancient regolith, the layer of dust and rock on the moon’s surface, is important for understanding lunar formation and evolution.
The findings of the Pragyan rover, including the crater, have excited scientists around the world. The information gathered from this ancient and heavily cratered region could reshape our understanding of the early history of the moon and the formation of its unique terrain.
