New ISRO Study Estimates The Age of the Region Where Chandrayaan-3 Landed To Be 3.7 billion Years Old

A new study published by ISRO has estimated the age of the region where Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon to be 3.7 billion years old. This goes back to the time when primitive microbial life forms first emerged on planet Earth.

A team of ISRO scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad performed morphological and topographical analysis of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site for the first time. The point is now popularly known as the Shiv Shakti point.

Chandrayaan-3

On August 23, 2023, India became the first country to successfully make a soft landing on the moon’s Southern pole. The mission could get useful data produced by the Pragyan rover inside Vikram Lander of Chandrayaan-3. Indian scientists have now been turning out new interpretations and insights on the evolution of the moon from this data.

PRL scientists have deployed high-end imaging techniques like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LOR) wide-angle camera and terrain. The camera gathers rock distribution data from the lunar surface around point Shiv Shakti.

The latest study published in the Advances in Space Research describes the regional geography around Shiv Shakti Point. The findings are that Pragyan Rover has unusually encountered several rock fragments at the landing side of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Numerous creators of three distinct types were also studied. Further, the age estimates from another 23 craters having high relief and smooth planes established the age of the region to be 3.7 billion years.