Latest Analysis Details Possibility Of Large Frozen Water Below Lunar Surface-ISRO
- Ananya Sharma
- May 2, 2024
- 4 min read
Hello , Everyone!
The latest analysis by scientists in our country and other countries outlined proof of significant frozen water below the lunar surface.
This analysis is founded on the radar data which was employed by Chandrayaan -2{Bharat's second moon exploration mission} lunar orbiter to further investigate the observations. Our country's second lunar exploration mission had an orbiter that encased scientific instruments to do many studies on the moon's surface. One of these scientific instruments was the dual frequency synthetic aperture radar which had been engineered for doing double penetration for predicting any signs of water ice beneath the lunar surface.
By studying the radar data the scientists were enabled to accumulate further evidence to support the likelihood of ice deposits on polar craters prevalent on the moon.
According to a study printed in the Journal namely-ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing; it can be inferred that there is a comparatively much more significant amount of ice i.e. fivefolds to eightfolds present beneath the lunar surface, than that present on the lunar surface. This was sated by our country's premier space agency -ISRO.
This subsurface ice is seen as a vital source of human nourishment and livelihood for a longer duration on the moon. However; this pivotal subsurface ice, heralds many profound questions such as about its source, its availability on the lunar surface & subsurface -its distribution, and at what depths this buried ice is available.
Therefore, addressing these questions will enable the scientists to effectively choose the preferable landing location and the study of that preferred location.
According to ISRO 's Space Application Centre's lead author -T Chakraborty being well-acquainted with the precision of what extdent the ice is distributed and upto how much depth it is there will enable the scientists to effectively choose the landing location , which will further help them with gathering and analysing the lunar volatiles.But what are lunar volatiles?These are easily vaporisable chemical elements or even the chemical coumpounds upon their subjection to the air and various other surface environments.
Examples of these lunar volatiles are:
-> Water / H2O
->Carbon dioxide /CO2
->Carbon Monoxide /CO
->Helium /He
->Hydrogen /H
In 2009, the US Space Agency-NASA had launched an orbiter spacecraft-lunar reconnaissance orbiter to throughly analyse the lunar surface and environment. The mision was to get vaubale insights regarding preferred landing sites and the lunar resources for e.g. frozen ice accumulated in areas which never get sunlight (Permanently Shadowed Regions or PSR)that are at lunar pole areas significantly in craters.
The scientists observed the accumulated findings which was accumulated through the help of the seven scientific instruments that was placed in the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter .The findings gave a deeper insight into the vital characteristics of moon's surface for e.g. lunar volatiles-like water ice ,lunar topography, temperature variations on the moon's surface, and the mineral composition of the lunar surface .Through these vital information ,it was inferrred that the North Pole areas has significantly twofolds more ice than the South Pole areas.
The scientists consider this polar ice to be emerged from the gases released from the moon's interior during a volcanic event that might have taken place in the past, when the moon was in the young stage i.e. geologically active stage .In this stage various geological events like volcanic eruptions had occured with a flow of soaring magma on the moon's surface and thereby, redefining it.
This volcanic event also triggered the realease of gases and lunar volatiles into the lunar atmosphere or even the exosphere -the outermost layer of lunar atmosphere. There could be a possibility that some of the gases might not had been realeased ,i.e. remained trapped within the lunar regolith-the loose fragmented material covering the intact rock on the lunar surface. The behaviour of this lunar regolith is smilar to that of a sponge. It holds gases at a place.
However, owing to the phenomenon of migration of gases within this lunar regolith ,due to temperature variations ; there might had been a situation that these gases got concentrated under the regions where there is scarcity of sunlight-permanently shadowed regions near the polar areas of the moon.Under these cold traps the gases may had got freezed and , many ice formations had been occured such as dry ice-CO2 , water ice etc.
The observations based on previous reseraches in the Chandrayaan 2 ,hinted the ice accumulations at lunar craters with the help of dual frequency synthetic aperture radar.
Resonating with this thought , according to ISRO ; the latest nuanced analysis ISRO will be able to conduct direct study of lunar volatiles through either sending a spacecraft or rovers on the lunar surface itself which might be equipped with cutting-edge scientific instruments to effectively accumulate and study lunar resources-volatiles.
Conclusively, we can sy that water being a pivotal resource for human livelihood,the ice mining from thne lunar subsurface could make moon an ideal exploration site with crews of astronauts and most intriguing part -inhabitation in the years to come.
Thank You.
References:
Very informative blog post on recent research on finding large water ice on lunar subsurface..great information
Wow, this post is so interesting! It talks about how scientists found frozen water under the moon's surface with the help of ISRO's research. It's cool to think about what this means for exploring the moon and maybe even living there one day. Thanks for explaining it so well!