ISRO successfully put a spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon on Wednesday. The mission is being touted as one of the Indian space agency’s biggest feats in a hall of fame dominated by the US, Russia and, more recently, China.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission, with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover, will give India advancement in the knowledge of lunar ice, which is seen as one of the most promising and valuable resources found on the Moon till date. But before lunar ice, here’s a background of what makes lunar pole landing a remarkable feat in the space race.
The race to Moon’s south pole
It is also a signal of India’s growing ambition in space. Lunar south pole, a tricky spot for landing with its abundant craters and deep trenches. It is far from the landing area in the equatorial region used by previous missions to space. Russia’s Luna-25 attempted to land days before Chandrayaan-3 but failed and crashed after spinning out of control on final approach. After India’s touchdown, both China and the US have missions planned to land on Moon’s south pole.
How did we find lunar ice?
Scientists have speculated about the presence of water on the moon since the 1960s but the earliest samples of the Moon's surface brought back by Apollo missions turned out dry. A new technology found minute hydrogen presence inside volcanic glass in the same samples in 2008. ISRO came into the picture in 2009 after Chandrayaan-1 carried a NASA instrument that detected water on the Moon's surface. A NASA probe then ventured to the lunar south pole and found ice below the surface. Another NASA mission found evidence suggesting frozen water in high concentration in the shadowed craters on Moon’s south pole.
Why is lunar ice valuable?
The water found on the Moon is valuable to both governments and private organizations. These pockets of ancient frozen water could give us a record of volcanoes on the Moon and material that was brought to Earth by comets and asteroids. It could provide the answer to how we have oceans.
Abundant quantities of lunar ice could mean that humans could use it as potential drinking-water for future missions on the moon. It could be used for cooling equipment on the moon and making it last longer. It can also be broken down to produce hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for humans to breathe. These could be big steps in future manned missions to Mars and mining on the Moon.
(Inputs from Reuters)
