India's Chandrayaan-3 mission landed the Pragyan rover near the Moon's south pole in August 2023, a region never before studied from the surface. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) shared the first close-up measurements from the site.
A probe found the surface reached about 82 degrees Celsius in the sunlight, hotter than expected, while just 10 centimeters down the soil plunged to about minus 168 degrees. A laser instrument identified the elements in the soil and confirmed sulphur, along with iron, calcium, and aluminium. ISRO called these the first such measurements made directly at the lunar south pole.
The south pole matters because its shadowed craters may hold ice that future missions could use. Still, the readings come from one landing site during a short mission. They describe a single location, and scientists would need data from many more places before generalising about the region.