Whh!! India’s prestigious moon mission CHANDRAYAN -1 has found water on the moon surface !!! The Rs 386-core craft was launched on October 22 last year and terminated on August 30 following a communication failure. One of the important aims of the mission was to find the possibilities of water in moon.
Fortunately we are about to hear that glad news. This important discovery was made by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M3), one of the payloads on board Chandrayan. It was supplemented by hyper-spectral imager and moon impact probe of Indian Space Research Organisation. According to the scientists from ISRO, The Moon mapper also made the unexpected discovery that water may still be forming on the surface of the Moon. The finding could now trigger another round of Moon missions, and start serious hunt for life in outer space.
Describing as “path-breaking” the evidence of water on Moon by India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission, ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair on Thursday said no lunar odyssey so far had given a “positive” conclusion. “There is confirmation of traces of water. It is a path-breaking event as far as Chandrayaan-1 mission is concerned. It is very very significant. So far, no mission has confirmed the presence of water positively,” he said.
Indian scientists are elated at the discovery of traces of water on the moon but at the same time warn of the need to quantify the resources and also ascertain whether it is fit for human consumption. As news spread out about Indian maiden lunar mission tracing water molecules on the moon’s surface, scientists rejoiced at the discovery and hope that it will pave the way for growing vegetation in the earth’s natural satellite in future.
“I am really very happy to know that the NASA payload on Chandrayaan-1 has traced water. If it is true then it will pave the way for growing vegetation in moon surface in five or 10 years from now,” renowned scientist Y S Rajan said. “Even if there is no water in its complete H20 format, still it’s a great feat. It will help make human venturing to moon a more enriching experience. Those going to moon can combine the molecule and get water. They can also break it and get oxygen which is a major problem for scientists in space,” said Rajan.
He said India’s moon mission was a “great success” that proved ISRO’s capability and efficiency in managing key space projects. “We have received loads of data from moon via our mission. It has certainly enriched the global scientific community.” Amitabha Ghosh, space scientist at NASA, said: “This is a very, very important finding… If somehow water was found on the moon, you could use that water right out there. You could extract it.”
S Chandrasekaran, another leading scientist, said: “Yes, we are very happy. I was not part of the mission so cannot give technical details but yes, the discovery is very significant. It is great and very important.” Last year, former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan had told the news agency: “For me personally, if Chandrayaan-1 manages to find evidence of water on the moon, then that would be the biggest achievement.”
Chandrayaan-1 was India’s first unmanned lunar probe. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organization in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The spacecraft carried five Indian instruments and six from abroad, including M3 and another from NASA, three from the European Space Agency (ESA), and one from Bulgaria.
It is expected that NASA will hold a press conference to brief about the new scientific findings later in the day. Images from the payload are currently being analysed by NASA.
Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters holds a spoon to illustrate the amount of water discovered on the surface of the moon at a briefing to discuss new science data from the moon collected during national and international space missions September 24, 2009 at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. NASA scientists have discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the moon. Instruments aboard three separate spacecraft revealed water molecules in amounts that are greater than predicted, but still relatively small. Hydroxyl, a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, also was found in the lunar soil. The findings were published in Thursday’s edition of the journal Science.
NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3, instrument reported the observations. M3 was carried into space on Oct. 22, 2008, aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. Data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, or VIMS, on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and the High-Resolution Infrared Imaging Spectrometer on NASA’s EPOXI spacecraft contributed to confirmation of the finding. The spacecraft imaging spectrometers made it possible to map lunar water more effectively than ever before.
