Following the remarkable achievement in Indian history made by the ISRO. ISRO is currently reviewing the historic Chandrayaan 3-moon mission, which has achieved some noteworthy progress in its work.
The six-wheeled, 26-kg rover, which can move slowly up to 500 metres, has started its duty of lunar exploration after sliding down a ramp from the Chandrayaan-3 lander. The six payloads on board the lander and rover have landed at lunar dawn. They begin gathering scientific data together.
This mission has established the existence of various elements that may confirm the existence of water at the lunar surface close to the south pole. A chart was published by ISRO. The chart displays the occurrence of several elements at different wavelength ranges.
Chandrayaan 3 Discovery So Far
On August 23, the Chandrayaan 3 spacecraft made a gentle landing on the lunar south pole. Since it made the first-ever soft landing on the south pole of the moon, it has been performing groundbreaking scientific studies.
The South Pole was chosen because it receives less sunlight and may be suitable for human colonisation, according to ISRO chief S. Somnath, who also provided an explanation for the decision.
Chandrayaan 3 made some intriguing discoveries after measuring the soil temperature of the moon. The temperature fluctuates between minus 10 and about 70 degrees Celsius. Further, at 80 mm below the surface, minus 10 degrees was measured; at 20 mm above, it was 60 degrees.
Chandrayaan 3 discovered Elements
The Chandrayaan-3 payloads will advance the scientific discoveries made by the two preceding missions by examining lunar quakes, mineral compositions, and the electrons and ions close to the Moon’s surface. The water ice, whose presence Chandrayaan-1 found, will be the subject of the mission’s study.
The first-ever in-situ measurements made by the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument on board the Rover conclusively. It shows that sulphur (S) is present on the moon’s surface near the south pole. The more elements that are discovered by the Pragyan rover are Iron (Fe), titanium (Ti), Aluminium (Al), calcium (Ca), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), oxygen (O), and sulphur (S).
By subjecting materials to powerful laser pulses, LIBS is a scientific process that determines the composition of materials. On the surface of a substance, such as rock or dirt, a high-energy laser pulse is directed. Besides a very hot, localised plasma is produced by the laser pulse. Spectrally resolved detectors, such as coupled Devices, pick up the gathered plasma light.
Furthermore, the results are important because Chandrayaan 3 will advance in its quest to find water on the moon if it discovers the hydrogen it is looking for.
Did Chandrayaan 3 Find Water?
According to ISRO, the Pragyan rover from Chandrayaan-3 has discovered sulphur near the south pole of the moon. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the rover was used to make the discovery.
On the Moon, sulphur is a very uncommon element. Its existence in the vicinity of the south pole is noteworthy since it can be an indication of the presence of water ice. Further, the persistently shaded craters near the south pole are believed to contain water ice.
Distance Tavel by Pragyan Rover
After slipping down a ramp from the Chandrayaan-3 lander, the six-wheeled, 26-kg Pragyan rover began its task of lunar exploration. It can move slowly up to 500 metres. At the start of the lunar day, the lander and rover’s six payloads touched down and started collecting data.
Additionally, 3 meters ahead of its current location, a 4-meter-diameter crater was discovered by the Pragyan rover as it was travelling across the lunar surface to conduct the experiments. Pragyan was led along a different path. These craters are abundant at the moon’s South Pole.
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