2023-08-30 04:08:33
Nearly a week following landing in the south polar region of the Moon, India’s Chandrayaan-3 Pragyan rover has provided the first definitive confirmation of the presence of sulfur on the Moon in its hunt for water ice, along with the detection of several other elements.
Following a failed moon landing attempt in 2019, India made lunar exploration history on August 23 this year when its Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Vikram lander, became the first country to achieve a soft landing near the lunar south pole, joining the successful landing on the lunar surface The elite queue, the only other countries that enjoy this reputation are Russia, the United States, and China.
Shortly following landing, the Pragyan lunar rover of the lander was also successfully released and began to explore the lunar surface, which is expected to last 14 days.
The rover carries 2 payloads: the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS). After preliminary analysis of LIBS instrument data, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has now announced the detection of Elements such as aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen, and silicon have clearly confirmed the existence of sulfur for the first time. As for the potential source of “hydrogen” that can be converted into drinking water or rocket fuel, it is still being searched.
The mission underscores India’s rising status as a technological and space powerhouse, which plans to launch its first mission to the International Space Station in partnership with the United States next year. The landing site for the Vikram lander will be named Shiv Shakti Point, pending approval from the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Indian authorities said.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
In-situ scientific experiments continue …..
Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.… pic.twitter.com/vDQmByWcSL
— ISRO (@isro) August 29, 2023
(Source of the first image:pixabay）
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