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India on August 23 scripted history as ISRO’s ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3’s Lander Module (LM) touched down on the lunar surface, making it only the fourth country to accomplish the feat and the first to reach the uncharted south pole. Since the the rover Pragyan has rolled out on the moon’s surface, various observations have been made in pursuit of lunar secrets at the South Pole.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 31 August has said that a new update stating that another instrument onboard the Chandrayaan-3 mission’s rover ‘Pragyan’ has confirmed the presence of sulphur in the lunar region, this time with different different technique.
The space agency said that the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) has detected S, as well as other minor elements.
“This finding by Ch-3 compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of Sulphur (S) in the area: intrinsic?, volcanic?, meteoritic?,……?” the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in the post. Along with this, ISRO also posted the video which showed an automated hinge mechanism rotating the 18 cm tall APXS, aligning the detector head to be approximately 5 cm in proximity to the lunar surface.
The 26-kg, six-wheeled, solar-powered Pragyan rover is equipped to use its scientific instruments to record what the lunar soil and rocks are made of in the south polar region where Chandrayaan-3 landed and it would also show how the readings contrast with that of the highland regions.
As per ISRO, “APXS instrument is best suited for in-situ analysis of the elemental composition of soil and rocks on the surface of planetary bodies having little atmosphere, such as the Moon.”
It also carries radioactive sources that emit alpha particles and X-rays onto the surface sample. The atoms present in the sample in turn emit characteristic X-ray lines corresponding to the elements present. By measuring the energies and intensities of these characteristic X-rays, researchers can find the elements present and their abundances.
APXS observations have discovered the presence of interesting minor elements, including sulphur, apart from the major expected elements such as aluminum, silicon, calcium and iron.
The Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the rover has already confirmed the presence of sulphur. Detailed scientific analysis of these observations are in progress.
APXS has been developed by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad, whereas UR Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru has built the deployment mechanism, it was stated.
Earlier on 30 August, the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope instrument onboard ‘Pragyan’ rover of Chandrayaan-3 ‘unambiguously confirmed’ the presence of sulphur in the lunar surface near south pole. Other elements like Aluminum (Al), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), Titanium (Ti), Manganese (Mn), Silicon (Si), and Oxygen (O) are also detected. The space agency further added that the search for Hydrogen (H) is underway.
Subsequently, in another tweet, ISRO also released a video of the rover rotating in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a lander imager camera.
“It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately. Isn’t it?” ISRO wrote in social media post.
(With inputs from PTI)
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Updated: 31 Aug 2023, 02:29 PM IST
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