- 4152 - MOON PROBE - surprise discoveries? - India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 has taught scientists in just two weeks. The Indian mission has made some surprising discoveries about the composition of the Moon.
-------------- 4152 - MOON PROBE - surprise discoveries?
- The Indian Space Research Organizations’
(ISRO) Moon lander Vikram and robotic rover Pragyan have now been told to go to
sleep. ISRO hopes to awaken them at lunar dawn on September 22, 2031
-
- In their two-week sojourn around the Moon’s
south pole, they provided insights that have planetary scientists abuzz. Here
are some of the first remarkable findings:
-
- A thin soup of ions and electrons swirls
near the lunar pole. A probe onboard
Vikram made the first measurements of the density and temperature of Moon’s
ionosphere. There is a “relatively
sparse” mix of ions and electrons in the 100-kilometer-thick layer of
electrically charged plasma that surrounds the Moon’s surface near the south
pole.
-
- Initial measurements of the plasma indicate
a density of about 5 million to 30 million electrons per cubic meter. And the density seems to vary as the lunar
day progresses. The peak density of a similar layer in Earth’s upper atmosphere
is one million electrons per cubic centimeter.
-
- The density of the ionosphere would affect
lunar communication and navigation systems if humans were to inhabit the
Moon. The higher the electron density,
the longer radio signals take to travel through the ionosphere. The sparse
plasma means that potential delays would be “minimal”, and would not pose a
problem for transmission.
-
- Understanding lunar soil, including its
temperature and conductivity, will be important when considering settlement on
the Moon. The lander is fitted with a
temperature probe containing 10 sensors and able to reach 10 centimeters below
the surface of the Moon. Its preliminary data show that during the day, the
temperature 8 centimeters down is around 60 ºC lower than at the surface.
-
- A steep decline in temperature is expected
during the lunar daytime, because the heat does not conduct downward from the
warm sunlit surface. This is similar to
the effect one experiences when visiting a beach on a hot day, dig down just a
few centimeters and the sand is much cooler.
-
- Measurements so far have found that the
temperature at the surface is significantly warmer than recorded by NASA’s 2009
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The
temperatures are far too warm for water ice to be stable. Water converts from solid to gas at a very
low temperature in the vacuum of space, at about −160 ºC. Chandrayaan-3’s data
indicate temperatures warmer than −10 ºC at all depths sampled. Further down we
expect temperatures to flatten out at close to the average surface temperature
of about −80 ºC”.
-
- Among many vibrations recorded by the
lander’s seismograph, one in particular caught the attention of scientists. The
instrument seems to have recorded a very small seismic event that decayed to
background in about 4 seconds”. ISRO
scientists suspect it was a small moonquake or the impact of a tiny meteorite.
-
- Sulfur confirmed. Testing by the rover unambiguously confirms
the presence of sulfur in the lunar surface near the south pole. It also found
aluminium, silicon, calcium and iron, among other elements.
-
- Sulfur, being volatile, is not generally
expected. Confirmation of its presence
is really important. Sulfur is a key
element of molten rock, and researchers think that the primitive Moon was
covered with a thick layer of hot molten rock, which crystallized to form the
Moon’s surface.
-
- Measurements of sulfur concentrations can
provide insight into that process. However, it’s also possible that the sulfur
came from asteroids that bombard the Moon’s surface. The ISRO scientist says
they hope to add their findings to those of the US Apollo missions to better
understand the Moon’s geochemistry.
-
-
September 12,
2023 MOON PROBE -
surprise discoveries? 4152
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Comments
appreciated and Pass it on to whomever is interested. ---
--- Some reviews are
at: -------------- http://jdetrick.blogspot.com -----
-- email feedback,
corrections, request for copies or Index of all reviews
--- to: ------
jamesdetrick@comcast.net
------ “Jim Detrick” -----------
--------------------- ---
Friday, September 15, 2023 ---------------------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment