Bengaluru: When Vikram, India’s moon lander, briefly flew by and returned to the Moon in 2023, it was a small but significant moment in the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Now, that short “hop,” which lasted about 3 minutes, is helping scientists piece together what lies just beneath the lunar surface, with very precise measurements.The maneuver performed at the end of the mission moved the lander by about half a meter, giving researchers a rare opportunity to study a nearby piece of untouched land and compare it with the original landing location.Once the lander was stable, a temperature probe called ChaSTE (Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment), a key instrument on the lander, was pushed into the soil again. This time, only five of its ten sensors managed to penetrate the ground, as the new location was on a slightly steeper slope, within a small crater. Nevertheless, it recorded how heat moved through the ground during a brief period before sunset – about one lunar hour of observation, with some gaps due to mission constraints.The findings come from a study led by K Durga Prasad at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), published in The Astrophysical Journal.The results show that the Moon’s surface is not uniform. Instead, it is made up of layers that behave differently. The top few centimeters form a layer that conducts heat more easily, while the material beneath is less conductive. This layered structure changes how the surface heats up during the day and cools down as night falls.Hop also changed the land itself. When Vikram fired its engines, the force appeared to cause about 3 cm of topsoil to blow away, exposing the denser material below. In fact, the lander inadvertently “dug” into the surface without using any drills. Interestingly, such local disturbances over distances of just over half a meter were unexpected – soil properties are generally uniform over such short distances.This revealed another key feature. Soil becomes more dense with depth. Near the surface, it is loose and porous, but within just a few centimeters, it becomes denser and more tightly packed. Such variations can affect how stable the ground is for landers and rovers. These measurements also differ significantly from those found at equatorial sites decades earlier by the Apollo and Surveyor missions, showing that the polar region has its own distinct character.The investigation also detected changes in temperature during twilight. As sunlight diminished, the land became steadily cooler before the temperature dropped rapidly. The upper layers react faster than the lower layers, again pointing to differences in composition.These findings have implications beyond this single experiment. The Chandrayaan-3 landing site is located in the south polar region of the Moon, an area of ​​interest because it may contain frozen water. Understanding how heat moves through soil can help scientists predict where such ice might survive and remain stable.The study also shows how sensitive the moon’s surface is. Even a brief firing of the engine changed the top layer enough to expose what lay beneath. Future missions, especially those aimed at collecting samples or building infrastructure, will need to take such impacts into account.In the end, the jump, which lasted about three minutes, has produced a clear picture of the moon’s surface, showing that even small movements can provide valuable scientific clues.