Based on the Chandrayaan-3 mission by India, a new study has shown that there might be more sites with ice beneath the Moon’s surface near the poles than had previously been believed. The Communications Earth and Environment study, led by Dr Durga Prasad Karanam at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, said local temperature changes affect ice formation.
Ice could offer important details about the Moon’s early geological history, according to Dr Karanam, the main author of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. Recording temperature readings at depths of up to 10 cm beneath the flood surface, the ChaSTE probe of Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander ushered fresh insights into its origin and dynamics with time.
The researchers analysed that temperature from the ChaSTE probe aboard the Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander recorded at depths of 10 centimetres beneath the lunar surface.
The Launch:
Launched from Bengaluru by the Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO, the Chandrayaan-3 achieved a soft landing on the lunar south pole on August 23, 2023. This landing site, later named ‘Shiv Shakti Point’, is located near approximately 69 degrees south latitude. Rapid fluctuations of temperatures and formation of ice A research team found rather considerable to steep temperature contrasts for lunar during the day, with maxima at around 82 degrees Celsius and minima around -170 degrees Celsius by night.
At a relatively flat surface just a metre away from the landing area, the peak temperatures recorded close to 60 degrees Celsius. Their study found that slopes ridged away from sunlight at an angle of 14 degrees and above would be required for ice to build up commensurate to the surface.
The results of the study have great significance for the planned Artemis missions, which will land US astronauts near to the Moon’s south pole.
But as Dr Karanam clarified, there can be no liquid water on the Moon because of the extremely low atmospheric pressure existing there; this means that ice would sublimate directly into vapour rather than genuinely melting into liquid form. In other words, there’s a need for new measurements and innovative techniques for the extraction and utilisation of ice for long-term sustainability in the lunar environment, he noted as well.
