It confirmed the presence of water on the Moon; the government and private agencies now hope to mine the water ice to produce air, drinking water, and propellant for deep-space missions
File Photo by Isro showing a PSLV. Usage for representative purpose_ On July 14, 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will be launching Chandrayaan 3, which will attempt to make a soft landing on the Moon. This follows two previous missions, Chandryaan 1 and 2.
India made its first trip to the moon on October 22, 2008, when Chandryaan 1 was launched. The spacecraft is credited to have provided strong evidence for the presence of water on the lunar body.
Chandrayaan 1 carried 11 instruments built by different countries, including India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. The goal was to map the moon’s chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic properties (geological features using aerial photos).
The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on November 8, 2008, and completed more than 3,400 orbits around the Moon before shutting down on August 29, 2009. The spacecraft was originally designed to operate for two years.
Chandrayaan 1 confirmed the presence of water on the lunar surface, thanks to a 29-kilogram Moon Impact Probe.
On November 14, the spacecraft dropped the moon impact probe which crashed near the Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole but not before capturing over 3,000 images and measuring atmospheric constituents. By doing so, it provided strong evidence for the presence of water on the lunar surface. The impact site is named Jawahar Sthal (Jawahar Point).
The spacecraft also carried another instrument that also lent more evidence for the presence of water: The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) designed by NASA. It covered nearly 90 per cent of the lunar surface.
In September 2009, scientists published results of data which had detected water molecules in the form of hydroxyl- and/ or water-bearing molecules in the polar regions of the moon.
The spacecraft also carried The RADiatiOn Monitor (RADOM) to monitor the local radiation environment. It started working on October 22, 2008, just two hours after launch and continued through the end of the mission.
This goal was to evaluate the radiation hazard, particularly for electronic subsystems of the spacecraft and payloads on board. It was also expected to provide a better understanding of the space radiation environment around the Earth and the route to the Moon.
The radiation was dominated by the Galactic Cosmic Rays, which are high-energy particles coming from outside the solar system. During the mission, there was very low solar activity.
It found that the total accumulated dose during the transfer from Earth to Moon was found to be 1.3 Gray (Gy). Gray is the unit of ionizing radiation which describes the amount of energy deposited per unit of mass in an object or person.
Other instruments such as the hyper-Spectral Imager (HySI), which was designed to provide a mineral map of the lunar surface. HySi and M3 found that the lunar surface contains Ca pyroxene (Clinopyroxene), olivine and low Ca-pyroxene (Orthopyroxene), according to a 2019 paper.
The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC), was designed to provide a high-resolution 3-dimensional map of the Moon. Both HySI and TMC looked at roughly 50 per cent of the lunar surface, especially the polar region
The confirmation of water has caught the attention of the government and private agencies, who hope to mine the water ice to produce air, drinking water, and propellant for deep-space missions.
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