Something Precious Might Be Hiding Below The Moon Surface: Chandrayaan-3 ISRO Mission

Something Precious Might Be Hiding Below  The Moon Surface: Chandrayaan-3 ISRO Mission Save the date: 23 August 2024.  That will be the first National Space Day ever celebrated in India.  Yes, the first one, because this day was set aside in India to commemorate one of  the most relevant scientific achievements of the century: the successful landing on  the Moon by the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Needless to say, landing on the Moon is no  picnic. But landing on the South Pole is even harder, due to

the mountainous terrain,  creators, and unpredictable lighting. Yet, the mission was a success. Armed with a lander and a rover, the Indian Space Research Organization  (ISRO) ventured on a quest to find more about our Moon. What is it made of? How  did it really form? Most importantly, they wanted to find in situ proof of  the existence of water on the surface. Scientists found all kinds of molecules and  even detected what is thought to be a moonquake. However, they could not find any signs of

water.  This raises the one billion dollar question: where is water on the moon? --- Chandrayaan-3 and Chandrayaan-2 The good missions are the ones where you go where nobody has gone before, and  you do the things nobody has done before. According to this statement, Chandrayaan-3 was  definitely one of the best missions of the decade. Scheduled to last 5 months and 22 days, it  was launched on 14 July 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. The  propulsion module, which

carried the lander and rover configuration to a 62 miles (100 km) lunar  orbit, was so well designed and taken care of, that a few months later, on December 4, 2023, it  was reinserted into an orbit around the Earth, with the primary objective to  even allow for Earth observation. The lander, named Vikram, successfully  soft-landed on the Moon and opened its belly to let the Pragyan rover wander around on  the regolith surface, for a total of 1 lunar day, corresponding to around 14 Earth days. 

Everything went quite smoothly. Especially if you compare it to the Chandrayaan-2 Failed  mission. This one, launched on 22 July 2019, never made it to the lunar surface. I mean,  technically it did. Only, it crashed on it, due to a deviation from its intended trajectory while  attempting the soft landing in September 2019. The crash was likely caused by a software  glitch. The rest of the former twins Vikram and Pragyan's lander and rover, which were built  for Chandrayaan-2, now lie dead on th

e Moon. As for Chandrayaan-3, no software glitches  occurred, and engineers also took some time to upgrade Vikram and Pragyan with  respect to their twin configuration. Unlike Chandrayaan-2's lander, which had five  engines with a centrally mounted fifth engine capable only of fixed thrust, Chandrayaan-3's  lander is equipped with four variable-thrust engines with slew rate-changing capabilities.  Moreover, the altitude correction rate has been increased from 10°/s in Chandrayaan-2 to 25°/s  in

Chandrayaan-3. Its impact legs are stronger compared to Chandrayaan-2. Additionally, the  targeting of a more precise landing region of 16 km2 (6.2 sq mi) is based on images provided by  the Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) onboard Chandrayaan-2's orbiter. Structural rigidity has  been improved, polling in instruments increased, and multiple contingency systems added to enhance  lander survivability in case of failure during descent and landing. These are just some of the  strengths behind

the amazing Indian mission. --- Hey! Before moving on, be sure to like or dislike the video, so that we can improve it for  YOU the viewer. Plus, Don't forget to subscribe to our channel by making sure to hit the NOTIFICATION  BELL, so you don't miss ANY of our daily videos! --- Water Evidence As you might have thought, there must  have been a Chandrayaan-1 mission too, right? And if so, was it a copy of the latter? Or  was it something different? What was its purpose? Chandrayaan-1 was India's

very first lunar  probe. It was launched almost 16 years ago, on October 22, 2008, with the goal of exploring  the Moon and conducting various scientific experiments. The mission marked a significant  milestone for India's space program, making it the first Asian country to reach lunar orbit and  the first in the world to do so in over 30 years! Key objectives and instruments aboard  Chandrayaan-1 included mapping the Moon's surface, studying its mineral composition,  and searching for water mol

ecules. The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments,  including a Moon Impact Probe (MIP) that was released and impacted the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-1 made several significant discoveries, including the confirmation of water  molecules on the Moon's surface. However, the mission faced challenges when communication with  the spacecraft was lost in August 2009. Despite this, Chandrayaan-1's contributions significantly  expanded our understanding of the Moon and paved the way for subsequent

lunar missions,  including Chandrayaan-2 and Chandrayaan-3. The Moon, previously thought to be a dry  and hostile place, was now found to be wet. The amount of water hidden in the lunar  poles of the Moon was later estimated to be around 600 billion kilograms. That is enough to fill at least 240 thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools.  The water molecules were believed to be distributed across the lunar surface and  possibly trapped in minerals or in the form of ice in permanently shadowed regio

ns.  This discovery had important implications for future lunar exploration and potential resource  utilization, as water is crucial for supporting future human missions by providing essential  resources for life support and fuel. It is clear that subsequent missions, including  Chandrayaan-2, would have had the major scope of unveiling where exactly this ice was. The  main idea was to look inside the moon’s craters. There are some reasons behind this choice. Permanently shadowed regions on the

Moon, located near the lunar poles, have  temperatures that are extremely low and lack direct sunlight. These areas are  believed to trap and accumulate water ice. Moreover, some in-orbit observations have  also detected hydrogen, a component of water, coming straight from these shadowed regions.   Last but not least, theoretical models and simulations based on the Moon's thermal  environment and surface conditions also support the idea that water ice could exist  in these permanently shadowed r

egions. That was the deal with the failed Chandrayaan-2  mission. Luckily, India did not give up and sent Chandrayaan-3. The upgraded Vikram and  Pragyan made some incredible discoveries. --- Discoveries Traces of sulfur, oxygen, even Calcium, and  Chromium were found in the chemical studies to address the actual composition  of the Moon soil at the south pole. This was made possible by the Laser-induced  Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument. To observe a substance, LIBS fires laser pulses at a sam

ple,  which then vaporizes it into a brief plasma, which then re-emits some light,  depending on its composition. Aluminum, titanium, silicon, iron, and  manganese are among the other key elements found. These were already known to be on  the Moon since the first Apollo Missions, but having a more complete chemical composition of  the lunar south pole area means future travelers or colons of the region will also be able to  plan for what else they don’t need to bring from Earth. For instance, su

lfur could be used  by moon-dwellers in bits of infrastructure such as building materials, solar cells, and batteries. Yet, one thing left scientists a bit disappointed: among all the elements, there was a missing  one: hydrogen, the major component of water, together with oxygen. It really seems like  upcoming missions will have to dig deeper into this mystery if they want to find  water ice…and I mean it quite literally! Yes, because, among other things, the mission  also took the first-ever t

emperature measurements of the Lunar South’s pole region’s soil.  The CHASTE instrument, present on the lander module and designed to study the heat  conductivity of the lunar surface and measure the differences in temperatures  at different points on and below it, found out that the temperature decreases as you  go down. The maximum temperature of about 140 F (60 degrees Celsius) was found at 20 mm above  the zero level. Under that, a steep decrease in the temperatures was observed, reaching  m

inus 14 F (-10 Celsius) at a depth of 80 mm. This has two important consequences:  first, it shows that the lunar regolith is not as good at conducting the heat  as we previously thought, and second: whoever wants to find some water ice on the  moon, well…they will probably have to dig a bit. Perhaps, the 600 billion kg of water ice  observed by the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter is hidden under the lunar regolith, at a  way higher depth than previously thought. As you can understand, although no actual 

trace of water was found by Chandrayaan-3, the mission gave us valuable insights for future  missions that will try to address that mystery. --- The Slow Moving Rover ISRO has released an image  showcasing the progress of Pragyan Rover's exploration on the Moon,  as it reaches a distance of 100 meters. While it may seem slow compared to Usain Bolt's  speed, it's important to remember the unique challenges of lunar terrain. Due to the  conditions, rovers must move at a crawl, with Pragyan moving

at a speed of 1 cm per second.  The image reveals that the rover had to alter its path after encountering a crater along the  way. Additionally, ISRO shared a video captured by Vikram's Lander Imager Camera, demonstrating  Pragyan's rotation as it sought out a safer route. The ISRO tweeted - or should we say: Xed?  - “It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while  the mother watches affectionately. Isn't it?” --- The End Of Mission The Pragyaan rover and V

ikram lander conducted  research on the Moon's surface throughout a single lunar day, lasting around 14 Earth days.  This lunar day began on August 23 and both the rover and lander relied on solar power. After  14 Earth days, the lunar day ended and the Moon entered a period of darkness lasting 14-15  Earth days, during which the temperature dropped to minus 292 F or 180 degrees Celsius. Scientists were aware that the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover would be incapable of functioning  in such ex

treme lunar nighttime conditions. However, they believed that the mission could  surpass this timeframe and become operational again once exposed to sunlight. If the systems  were able to endure until the next lunar day, the rover could potentially continue  its exploration. Unfortunately, this expectation was not met, and the lander  and rover never reached their second lunar day. It is unfortunate to consider the missed  opportunity for further invaluable scientific discoveries that could have

been made in  those additional 14 days. Nonetheless, Chandrayaan 3 has undoubtedly been one heck of  a mission. The results it provided humanity with are ready to be inserted in the new scientific  books. Now the Moon will never be the same. --- This video ends here! Thanks for watching! Do you think we will ever be  able to find water on the Moon, and maybe use it as a resource? Let us know in the comments  below. I’ll see you next time on the channel!