Indian Moon Rover Hits Jackpot, Detects Wealth Of Elements At Lunar South Pole

The greatest prize still eludes the rover, but the more elements available close to the best sites for future bases, the less we need to bring from home.

STEPHEN LUNTZ
Freelance Writer



Lunar far side imaged by Chandrayaan-3 on August 19, 2023.

Image credit: ISRO

India's Chandrayan-3 lunar mission is proving a scientific success as well as a technical triumph, with its Pragyan rover successfully analyzing the composition of the Moon's surface close to the lunar south pole. The data returned has value beyond that of previous missions, both crewed and robotic, because the area being studied is close to the likely locations for future bases. So far, however, the mission has not discovered the most valuable prize of all: water ice.

A statement from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument carried aboard Chandrayan-3 has confirmed the presence of sulfur. The statement notes this is; “Something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters.”

LIBS works by exposing materials to intense pulses of laser light, turning them to plasma, the electromagnetic spectrum of which can be resolved to identify the composition. All this with less than 1.2 watts of power. The technique only reveals the elements, however, not the molecules in which they may have combined.

Besides sulfur, the early results include aluminum, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen. No hydrogen, a requirement for water, has been found in the samples tested so far, but the statement says; “Thorough investigation regarding the presence of Hydrogen is underway.”

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