India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has revealed remarkable new details about the Moon’s South Pole, uncovering a surprisingly dynamic and electrically active environment near the surface.

Analysis of data collected by the Vikram lander between August 23 and September 3, 2023, provides the first-ever in situ measurements of the plasma conditions in this region, results that mark a milestone in lunar science.

Plasma, known as the fourth state of matter, is a mixture of charged particles, ions and free electrons, that can conduct electricity and respond to electromagnetic fields.

On the Moon, this plasma environment is shaped primarily by the solar wind, a continuous stream of high-energy charged particles from the Sun, and the photoelectric effect, in which sunlight knocks electrons from luna

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