The Indian spacecraft confirms the presence of sulfur in the south pole of the moon

MADRID, August 29 (Europe Press) –

The Pragyan spacecraft of the Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 carried out the mission First in situ measurements of the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the South Pole.

These on-site measurements – obtained with the Laser Induced Absorption Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument – ​​unequivocally confirm the presence of sulfur in the area. something that was not possible with the instruments on board the orbitersaccording to the Indian Space Agency It’s a statement.

According to a previous studyThe sulfur in the lunar volcanic rocks is a fingerprint of the presence of iron sulfide in the rocky interior of the moon. It is the place where the precious metals are believed to have been located When lava formed on Earth’s natural moon.

LIBS is a scientific technique that analyzes the composition of materials by exposing them to intense laser pulses. A high-energy laser pulse is focused onto the surface of a material, such as rock or soil. The laser pulse generates extremely hot, localized plasma. The collected plasma light is spectrally analyzed and detected by detectors such as charge-coupled devices.

Chandrayaan-3 mission:

Scientific experiments on site are continuing…..

The rover’s Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) instrument has unequivocally confirmed the presence of sulfur (S) on the lunar surface near the south pole, with first-of-its-kind in situ measurements. pic.twitter.com/vDQmByWcSL

– isro (@isro) August 29, 2023

Since each element emits a distinct set of wavelengths of light when in the plasma state, The elemental composition of the substance is determined.

Graphically represented, preliminary analyzes revealed the presence of aluminum (Al), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), chromium (Cr) and titanium (Ti) on the lunar surface. Further measurements revealed the presence of manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O). The presence of hydrogen is currently being thoroughly investigated.

The LIBS payload was developed at the Laboratory of Photovoltaic Systems (LEOS)/ISRO, Bengaluru.