Chandrayaan-1 data suggests electrons from Earth forming water on Moon
New Delhi (PTI): Scientists analysing the remote sensing data from India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission have found that high energy electrons from the Earth may be forming water on the Moon.
The team led by researchers from the University of Hawai'i (UH) at Manoa in the US discovered that these electrons in Earth's plasma sheet are contributing to weathering processes -- breaking down or dissolving of rocks and minerals -- on the Moon's surface.
The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, found that the electrons may have aided the formation of water on the lunar body.
Knowing the concentrations and distributions of water on the Moon is critical to understanding its formation and evolution, and to providing water resources for future human exploration, the researchers said.
The new finding may also help explain the origin of the water ice previously discovered in the permanently shaded regions of the Moon, they said.
Chandrayaan-1 played a crucial role in the discovery of water molecules on the Moon. The mission, launched in 2008, was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme.
Solar wind, which is composed of high energy particles such as protons, bombards the lunar surface and is thought to be one of the primary ways in which water has been formed on the Moon.
The team investigated the changes in surface weathering as the Moon passes through Earth's magnetotail, an area that almost completely shields the lunar body from solar wind but not the Sun's light photons.
"This provides a natural laboratory for studying the formation processes of lunar surface water," said Shuai Li, an assistant researcher at the UH Manoa School of Ocean.
"When the Moon is outside of the magnetotail, the lunar surface is bombarded with solar wind. Inside the magnetotail, there are almost no solar wind protons and water formation was expected to drop to nearly zero," Li said.
Li and co-authors analysed the remote sensing data that were collected by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument, an imaging spectrometer, onboard India's Chandrayaan 1 mission between 2008 and 2009.
They, specifically, assessed the changes in water formation as the Moon traversed through Earth's magnetotail, which includes the plasma sheet.
"To my surprise, the remote sensing observations showed that the water formation in Earth's magnetotail is almost identical to the time when the Moon was outside of the Earth's magnetotail," said Li.
"This indicates that, in the magnetotail, there may be additional formation processes or new sources of water not directly associated with the implantation of solar wind protons. In particular, radiation by high energy electrons exhibits similar effects as the solar wind protons," he explaned.
This finding and the team's previous study of rusty lunar poles indicate that the Earth is strongly tied with its Moon in many unrecognised aspects, the researchers added.
Chandrayaan 1 was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor.
India successfully landed Chandrayaan-3 mission, with a rover and a lander, near the Moon's enigmatic south pole last month, becoming the first country to do so.
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Space race on with endeavour to return to Moon sustainably: Sunita Williams
New Delhi (PTI): Astronaut Sunita Williams on Tuesday said there is a "space race" going on at present but the endeavour is to ensure humanity returns to the Moon sustainably and that it is done in a "productive and democratic way".
Before settling into a nearly hour-long interactive session held at the American Center here, Williams, in her brief opening remarks, also said that coming back to India felt akin to a homecoming, as it is the country where her father was born.
Wearing a trademark deep blue space overalls and sporting a pair of space-themed canvas shoes, Williams, 60, strode into an auditorium full of Indian youths to a loud cheer, and later actively engaged with the audience with an unassuming ease, punctuating the conversation with delectable humour.
A former US Navy captain, she was born to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, hailing from Jhulasan in Mehsana district and a Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, in the US.
During the conversation, she also shared her experiences from the time when she had got stuck in space when an eight-day mission to the International Space Station had turned out to be a challenge of a lifetime as problems cropped up on their Boeing space flight that stretched her stay in orbit to over nine months.
A montage of visuals from that period was played on screen, and it showed the ISS's multi-cultural crew, celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and the birthday of a crew member.
"We are not the best singers, but we can make space cakes," Williams said, as the audience broke into laughter.
She further said, "You would see almost 12 people on the ISS at one point in time".
"The International Space Station with our Russian, Japanese, European, Canadian... and a lot of other great countries. (Group) Captain (Shubhanshu) Shukla came up a little bit after me. I'm really sad I missed him while I was up there; we could have shared some stories," she said.
During the interaction, she was asked a plethora of questions, ranging from ways to maintain mental health to managing space debris and from commercialisation of the space sector to collaboration of the public and private sectors in space missions.
Asked if the growing number of players in the private sector in space could actually trigger a space race, moving it beyond the realm of science fiction into reality, she said, "There is a space race going on."
"On the space race. I mean, I think there is a space race going on. I think people have talked about that. There is... you know, we want to get back to the Moon. We want to get back to the Moon sustainably.
"We want to get back to the Moon, to sort of start the conversation about rules of engagement, and how we actually work on the Moon, how we work together with other countries on the Moon," the noted astronaut said.
"So yes, there is a race to ensure that we do this in a productive, democratic way. Just like Antarctica. I mean, it's the same type of thing. We want to get back to the Moon so we can all be there at the same time and working together," she added.
American Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. NASA's last crewed mission to the Moon was in 1972.
NASA, in coordination with the US Department of State and seven other initial signatory nations, established the Artemis Accords in 2020. With many countries and private companies conducting missions and operations around the Moon, the Artemis Accords provide a common set of principles to enhance the governance of the civil exploration and use of outer space.
India is a signatory to this Accord.
Also, India's long-term ambitions in space include setting up the Bharatiya Antariksha Station by 2035 and sending the first Indian to the Moon by 2040.
To another query on the private sector increasingly engaging in space exploration, Williams said, "Commercialisation of space is great. And, what it means in the United States, at least, is ... there are opportunities for people to work in so many different companies."
"So not only rockets, not only spacecraft, but parts of space experiments, satellites, new technologies, 3D printing of metals, wherever anybody wants to work... I think it's awesome. I think it is great. I think there's more opportunity in the future," she said.
She underlined that space travel is a "team sport" and countries need to work together as "this is our one planet, we are here together".
Asked if space travel has changed her perspective towards life in general, Williams said, "Yes, absolutely."
"It changes one's perception about people having any differences. It really makes you feel like we are just one, and we all should probably work a little bit closer and easier together. And it actually sort of made me feel like, why would anybody argue about anything. I know, I'm married. I have a husband. We argue. So I understand arguments, but like the reality of it is, like why? You know, it seems so silly when you look at Earth from that perspective," Williams said.
