India hunts ice at lunar South Pole

COOL as you like, India's moon rover set off to look for ice yesterday after the nation's historic landing near the lunar South Pole.

- Chris Riches

Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation released the first-ever photos of the uncharted region, taken as its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft touched down.

Researchers believe the territory may contain precious elements and pockets of ice - which may provide a record of microbial life, lunar volcanoes and material that comets and asteroids deposited there.

The reserves may also point to the existence of longvanished lunar oceans, since there is potential for them to have lasted thousands of years on airless planetary bodies.