Isros Chandrayaan 3 Reveals Link To Earths First Lunar Meteorite

India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has delivered another major scientific breakthrough, with researchers finding that the soil at its landing site is closely linked to the first lunar meteorite ever discovered on Earth. The new analysis not only strengthens scientists’ understanding of the Moon’s geological history but also suggests that the region explored by Chandrayaan-3 contains material from multiple layers of the lunar crust.

The findings, published by researchers at Isro in ‘Nature’, study samples and measurements collected by Chandrayaan-3, provide fresh insights into how impacts have continuously reshaped the Moon over billions of years.

Scientists compared the composition of soil and rocks analysed by Chandrayaan-3’s instruments at Shiv Shakti Point, near the Moon’s south polar region, with laboratory studies of the Calcalong Creek meteorite, widely recognised as the first confirmed lunar meteorite discovered on Earth.

The comparison revealed striking similarities in mineral composition, suggesting that both the meteorite and the Chandrayaan-3 landing site may have originated from similar geological environments on the Moon.

The discovery helps scientists connect lunar samples found on Earth with specific regions on the Moon, something that has long remained difficult because meteorites are blasted into space after asteroid impacts and eventually fall to Earth without any record of where they came from.

One of the study’s most significant conclusions is that the lunar soil at Shiv Shakti Point is not made from a single rock type. Instead, it is a mixture of materials originating from different depths of the Moon’s crust.

Researchers believe repeated asteroid and meteorite impacts over billions of years excavated underground material and scattered it across the lunar surface. This constant “gardening” process has mixed ancient rocks from different geological layers into the soil now covering the region.

Such findings suggest that the Chandrayaan-3 landing site preserves a much more complicated geological record than previously understood.

Chandrayaan-3 continues to expand lunar science

Chandrayaan-3 became the first mission to achieve a successful soft landing near the Moon’s south pole in August 2023. Its Vikram lander and Pragyan rover conducted in-situ studies of the lunar surface, analysing rocks, soil composition, temperature variations and elemental abundance.

The latest study highlights how those observations continue to produce new scientific discoveries years after the mission concluded its surface operations.

By linking the landing site’s composition with a meteorite found on Earth, researchers now have another valuable reference point for studying lunar evolution and understanding how different parts of the Moon are connected through ancient impact events.

The findings improve scientists’ understanding of how the Moon’s crust evolved over time and how impact events have redistributed material across its surface.