Chandrayaan-3 | oxygen | Pragyan rover | Moon's south poleChandrayaan-3 | oxygen | Pragyan rover | Moon's South Pole

Chandrayaan-3

 

Chandrayaan-3 Discovers Oxygen on the Moon's South Pole.

August 29, 2023

An instrument mounted on Chandrayaan-3's Pragyan rover has confirmed the presence of OXYGEN in the south polar region of the Moon. This work has been done with a payload called Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS). This was the first in-situ experiment of Chandrayaan-3 on the lunar surface. Besides, the discovery of hydrogen is still going on. If hydrogen is also available after oxygen, it will be easier to make water on the moon.

LIBS analyses the surface of the moon by shining an intense laser beam. These laser beams hit stone or soil with high intensity. Therefore, a very hot plasma is formed there. Just as it comes from the SUN.

The light emitted from the plasma tells us what kind of minerals or chemicals are on the surface. Which are written by their chemical name. In Addition, Minerals or Chemicals that have been discovered are Sulfur, Aluminium, Calcium, Iron, Chromium, Titanium, Manganese, and Silicon. That is, the quantity of these things may be more or less, but all these things are on the surface of the moon.

Pragyan rover has two payloads, what will they do?

1. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS). It will study the composition of elements. For example, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, potassium, calcium, tin, and iron. They will be discovered on the lunar surface around the landing site.

2. Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer - APXS). It will study the quantity and quality of chemicals on the moon's surface. Will also look for minerals.

SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF THE MOON

Earlier, the surface temperature of the moon was measured

Earlier, a special type of thermometer installed in the VIKRAM LANDER had reported that there was a large temperature difference between the temperature above the surface of the moon and the temperature 10 centimeters below the surface, which is about 4 inches below. This was done by the ChaSTE payload attached to the lander. This device detects heat within 10 cm, or about four inches, without touching it, without touching the surface, or without digging into the surface.

Surface temperatures near the Moon's South Pole have been measured for the first time. Hot outside and cold inside.

Zero is placed on the pure left side. That is, the temperature there is between 50 and 60 degrees Celsius. Which is increasing in descending order from left to right in the graph. The blue dots on the orange line represent the Moon's surface temperature. Where is at the pure zero point, i.e. it is measuring the surface temperature of the Moon. It ranges between 50 and 60 degrees Celsius.

But just below the same surface, 10 cm inside the mercury is minus 10 degrees Celsius. Now imagine that the ground you are standing on is as cold as minus ten degrees Celsius. And the temperature above is making you sweat. Is it easy to live like this? As you go deeper into the surface, the temperature will drop.

What will the four payloads on the Vikram lander do?

1. RAMBHA: It will investigate the density, quantity, and variation of plasma particles from the Sun on the surface of the Moon.

2. ChaSTE: It will measure the heat i.e. temperature of the Moon's surface.

3. ILSA: It will investigate seismic activity around the landing site.

4. Laser Retro Reflector Array (LRA): It will try to understand the dynamics of the Moon.