NEW DELHI, Aug 31: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday shared a video of the Pragyan rover being rotated on the Moon’s surface – remotely from the command centre in Bengaluru – in search of a route that avoids craters and rocks on the lunar surface and gave example of India’s traditional “Chandamama” reference.
“The rover was rotated in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a Lander Imager Camera,” the ISRO posted on X. “It feels as though a child is playfully frolicking in the yards of Chandamama, while the mother watches affectionately…” it said.
The rover and the lander Vikram that carried Pragyan to the Moon, are racing to finish experiments before a lunar night (which lasts 14 Earth days) sets next week.
The ISRO on Thursday said another instrument on-board the Chandrayaan-3 rover Pragyan has confirmed the presence of Sulphur (S) in the south polar region. On August 28, the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument on-board Pragyan had confirmed the presence of sulphur in the south pole region unambiguously. Now the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) instrument has also confirmed the presence of sulphur.
“Another instrument onboard the Rover confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the region, through another technique. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) has detected S, as well as other minor elements. This finding by Ch-3 compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of Sulphur (S) in the area: intrinsic?, volcanic?, meteoritic?,……?.” ISRO posted on X.
ISRO said the APXS instrument is best suited for in-situ analysis of the elemental composition of soil and rocks on the surface of planetary bodies having little atmosphere, such as the Moon.
It carries radioactive sources that emit alpha particles and X-rays onto the surface sample. The atoms present in the sample in turn emit characteristic X-ray lines corresponding to the elements present. By measuring the energies and intensities of these characteristic X-rays, researchers can find the elements present and their abundances.
“APXS observations have discovered the presence of interesting minor elements, including sulphur, apart from the major expected elements such as aluminium, silicon, calcium and iron. It may be recalled that the LIBS instrument onboard the Rover also confirmed the presence of sulphur. Detailed scientific analysis of these observations are in progress,” the space agency said.
APXS is developed by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, with support from the Space Application Centre (SAC) Ahmedabad, whereas the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, built the deployment mechanism. The ISRO said Pragyan, with its scientific instruments, was trying to find answers to questions like “What are lunar soil and rocks made of in the south polar region and how’s it different from other highland regions?”
The ISRO also released a video showing an automated hinge mechanism rotating the 18 cm tall APXS, aligning the detector head to be approximately 5 cm in proximity to the lunar surface. The video is captured by the lander camera.
This latest update from the Moon comes a day after Pragyan shared an image of Vikram – the first using its NavCam, or navigation camera and the first since it was deployed. All visuals shared before were taken by the lander; happy ISRO scientists posted the “image of the mission” on X.
(Manas Dasgupta)