Chandrayaan-1 breaks ice

Water on the moon could be just the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" that India's very own Chandrayaan-1 has discovered. According to scientists involved closely with the project, instruments on the spacecraft have for the first time found strong indications of "indigenous" ice formations on the moon surface and sub-surface.

Going beyond the discovery of water molecules by Moon's Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and Moon Impact Probe (MIP), the latest findings based on crunching data from another payload of Chandrayaan-1, NASA's Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (MINI-SAR), provide hope for long term inhabitation of Earth's natural satellite and as a launch pad to interplanetary explorations.

"While I cannot officially share the findings, a paper prepared for publication by reputed scientific journal Science is going through a peer review and will be announced by NASA within a month or two," a senior scientist involved in the project told DNA.

Four reports, based on the Chandrayaan-1 findings, published in the September 25 issue of Science showed clear evidence of water, likely frozen, on the desert surface of the Moon. Water molecules were found all over the moon's surface. 

One of the theories attributed this to some external sources such as comets or asteroids crashing into the moon surface billions of years ago. However, the latest possibility of 'permanent' ice goes beyond this and indicates it could have been formed due to reasons native to the moon.

"The finding gains importance in wake of NASA, along with other international partners planning to build a human base at an appropriate location where water, solar energy and hydrogen is available in abundance and it could be realised sooner than expected," the scientist explained.

Though this is not the first time that the tracts of ice on moon's surface have come to light, this is the most dependable data given that the Chandrayaan-1, within its short life 10 months has gathered it in as many cycles from multiple points and at different times, the scientist said.

Chandrayaan-1 carried 11 instruments owned by various international space bodies totalling over 16 different parameters.  Prior to the launch of the US-based satellite Clementine in 1994, it was believed that water ice evaporates directly into space as the low gravity of the moon cannot hold gas for substantial time as also because of the high temperatures up to 250 degree Fahrenheit on the moon. Thus any ice which would be exposed to sunlight would be lost.

One argument was put forward that only permanently shadowed regions of moon would hold the ice which was ruled out. But when Clementine was launched it was discovered that a vast area of 6,000 to 15,000 square kilometres remained shadowed and difficult to map all the while again strengthening the debate of existence of ice on moon.

With the possibility of permanent water sources on the moon, future space missions will not be expensive as they will not have to carry water. Lugging a litre of water to the moon could cost anywhere up to Rs20 lakh. Water ice on the moon can also serve as a source of oxygen and hydrogen, which can be used as fuel for rockets. While the shadowed areas can provide water, the sunlit areas can provide solar energy.