ISRO Wednesday said the cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 M4 launch vehicle, which successfully injected the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft into the intended orbit on July 14 this year, made an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth s atmosphere at around 14:42 IST today
As Vikram descended and subsequently touched down on the lunar surface, it triggered the activation of its descent stage thrusters which resulted in the ejection of a substantial amount of lunar surficial epi-regolith (the top surface of the lunar soil or regolith) material, creating what scientists are now calling a “reflectance anomaly” or an ‘ejecta halo.