Chandrayaan-3 records Moon 'quake'

BENGALURU: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), getting set for the launch of Aditya L1, the solar observatory, on Saturday, made several interesting findings on the Moon.

Vikram, the Chandrayaan 3 lander near the lunar south pole, recorded a seismic an event, appearing to be a natural one, on August 26. The source of this event is under investigation, Isro said. The sensitive equipment also recorded the movements of the rover Pragyan on the moon.

Meanwhile, the RAMBHA-LP load on Vikram indicated that plasma —ionized gas — was sparsely present. Isro said the “Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere - Langmuir Probe (RAMBHA-LP) payload onboard Chandrayaan-3 had made first-ever measurements of the near-surface lunar plasma environment over the south polar region.

Isro also released a video of the Chandrayaan-3 rover rotating in search of a safe route. The rotation was captured by a lander imager camera.

Another instrument onboard Pragyan has re-confirmed the presence of sulphur in the lunar south pole, through a different technique, Isro said. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) had detected sulphur, as well as other minor elements, which Vikram had detected earlier this week.

“This finding 3 compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of sulphur in the area: intrinsic? volcanic?, meteoritic,” Isro said.

Elsewhere, Isro Chairman S. Somanath said the countdown would begin on Thursday for the launch from Sriharikota on September 2 at 11.50 am.

“The rocket and satellite are ready. We will complete the rehearsal for the launch,” he said.