On Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said that in a significant development, the Pragyan Rover of the Chandrayaan-3 mission has “unambiguously” confirmed the presence of sulphur on the Moon’s surface near the south pole.
ISRO posted a tweet on ‘X’ that read, “In-situ scientific experiments continue…Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.”
The space agency also said that a search is under way for hydrogen in the south polar region of the Moon.
ISRO also mentioned in its social media post that as expected, the Pragyan Rover also detected aluminium, calcium, ferrous, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon and oxygen.
The latest revelations come a day after Chandrayaan-3 profiled the surface temperature of the moon’s south pole. ISRO shared a graph of the observations on X that illustrated the temperature variations of the lunar surface at various depths, as recorded during the probe’s penetration.
As per the graph, as the depth increases, the temperature of the lunar surface decreases.
It is likely that the mission will last another seven days as Pragyan’s rover and Vikram lander continue conducting a series of scientific experiments.
The rover has covered a distance of approximately eight meters since it was deployed from the lander and is expected to continue to explore the area around the Shiva Shakti landing site.
Investigating the chemical composition of lunar dust and gravel has been one of the rover’s primary aims. This study provides us with essential information about the moon’s geology and atmosphere, for our understanding of the moon.
