In August 2023, India's Chandrayaan-3 mission placed the Pragyan rover near the Moon's south pole, becoming the first mission to make in-situ surface measurements in that region. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released early results on soil composition and temperature.
Using a thermal probe, the mission recorded a surface temperature near 82 degrees Celsius on a sunlit slope, warmer than some pre-landing estimates, with a steep drop to roughly minus 168 degrees Celsius about 10 centimeters below the surface. ISRO characterised this as the first temperature-versus-depth profile obtained at the lunar south pole. A separate laser-based instrument, which vaporises a tiny amount of soil and analyses the emitted light, confirmed the presence of sulphur alongside aluminium, calcium, iron, and other elements, described as the first direct elemental detection of its kind at that location.
Interest in the south pole is driven partly by the prospect of water ice trapped in permanently shadowed craters, a potential resource for future exploration. The scientific value of these results is real, but their scope is limited. They derive from a single landing site over a mission lasting only about two weeks of lunar daylight. The measurements are best read as a detailed snapshot of one spot, not a characterisation of the polar region, which would require sampling across many sites and conditions.