Tons Of Water Ice Found at Lunar North Pole! March 1, 2010
Posted by Nick Azer in : Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1, NASA, Odyssey Moon, Polar ice, water , 1 comment so far
NASA’s Mini-RF instrument on India’s Chandryaan-1 orbiter has revealed, like the LCROSS ‘moon bombing’ and NASA’s other Chandrayaan probe (the M3) before it, evidence of water on the moon.
This time, it’s at least 600 million metric tons (!!) of ice deposits in craters at the lunar north pole—an enormous number! By comparison, the LCROSS impact turned up about 100kg of water (~22 gallons). Essentially this means that like Cabeus in the South, the ‘40 or more‘ permanently-shadowed craters investigated at the lunar north pole harbor that kind of ice.
“The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.”- Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (and chief lunar scientist of Google Lunar X PRIZE team Odyssey Moon); “Tons of Water Ice Found on the Moon’s North Pole”, Space.com
This should mean that the North Pole—and any permanently-shadowed crater—should have any lunar prospectors (human, robotic, or otherwise) salivating.
Santa (as reported by Apollo 8) better like company… :)
Chandrayaan-1′s Demise Due to ‘Heat Stroke’ September 7, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1, Indian Space Research Organization , add a commentMore details have been revealed regarding the demise of the Chandrayaan-1, via The Times of India.
A move of the craft from 100k to 200km in its lunar orbit back in May, originally described as being for a better view of the lunar surface, was actually in response to overheating (as some suspected at the time). Built to anticipate a temperature of 75 degrees celsius at the 100km level, the temperature was actually higher than that, causing a long series of issues with equipment.
For the full account of the craft’s slow demise, check out the original Times article.
Chandrayaan-1 Restrospective September 3, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1 , add a comment
With India having ended it’s Chandrayaan-1 mission this week (much earlier than its two years, due to losing contact with the craft), it’s time for a retrospective on its accomplishments:
- Made India the fourth country to land anything on the surface on the Moon, with its Moon Impact Probe
- Imaged the tracks and footprints of Apollo 15′s trek with its Terrain Mapping Camera, debunking conspiracy theories about Apollo being a hoax
- Confirmed theories about a lunar magma ocean beneath the surface
- Mapped minerals and other resources on the Moon, including the all-important helium-3
- Returned a wide range of other imagery
The key, lasting impacts of the mission I believe are intertwined: putting India on the lunar map, and the research into helium-3 quantities. With a bursting population, India is a natural candidate to have serious interest in fusion power as a solution to future energy stresses—and the Chandrayaan program is essentially a signal that India is in the lunar ‘helium rush’ for real.
Here’s a video on Chandrayaan-1 with some neat interviews with people from the ISRO itself; and for details on some of the craft’s instruments, check out my series of features on its payloads.
India Ends Chandrayaan-1 Orbiter's Mission After Losing Contact August 31, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1, Indian Space Research Organization , add a comment
India’s ISRO has decided to end its Chandrayaan-1 orbiter mission after losing contact 2 days ago.
Launched in October last year, this marks a somewhat premature end to the mission, but not before collecting a significant amount of data.
I’ll have a full retrospective up in a few days, as eyes turn to India’s next effort, an unmanned rover (in collaboration with Russia) called simply Chandrayaan-2…
Chandrayaan-1 Payload Feature #5: X-Ray Spectrometer (C1XS) February 2, 2009
Posted by Nick Azer in : Chandrayaan, Chandrayaan-1, Chandrayaan-1 Payload Features, Indian Space Research Organization , add a commentToday is the fifth in a series of features on each of the Indian lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1’s scientific payloads. The Chandrayaan-1 has 11 scientific instruments onboard to complete an array of measurements: five Indian instruments, and six from other nations and organizations (including the ESA and NASA).
For this edition, we look at one of the international payloads that made news last month– the ESA‘s Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS).
Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Spectrometer (C1XS)
The C1XS (pronounced like “kicks”) is, as a spectrometer, a device to measure the electronic structure of materials—in this case, the lunar surface.
This kind of imaging helps determine what the Moon is composed of. Nancy Atkinson at UniverseToday.com provided an excellent description of the above chart in her great article on the device’s first results:
“The red curve shows the combined signal from all 24 C1XS X-ray detectors during the solar flare at 02:35-02:38 UT on Dec. 12th. The black dashed line shows the normal background signal detected by C1XS. The three “fingers” sticking up between 1 and 2 keV are due to the presence of the elements magnesium, aluminium and silicon (left to right) on the Moon. ” -Nancy Atkinson, UniverseToday.com, “Chandrayaan-1 Instrument Detects First X-ray Signature from Moon“
Silicon, while not as high-profile as helium-3 in regards to the Moon, is a substance seen as having some lunar mining potential. It’s used most notably for solar panels, which are (of course) critical to lunar colonies.
These kinds of results over time will go a long way towards figuring out how the Moon was formed, and more about its selenographic nature in general.
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Keep checking back here for more payload features, Chandrayaan-1 news, and a complete wealth of updates and information about the base race, private space boom, and everything else under the Moon :)
India Launches Chandrayaan 1 Moon Mission (News) October 22, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Base Race, Bulgaria, Chandrayaan, European Space Agency, Helium-3, Indian Space Research Organization, Japan, Kaguya, Roscosmos, rover, Russia, selenography , add a commentToday, India’s Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched it’s first lunar mission, the Chandrayaan 1.
An unmanned lunar explorer (a la Japan‘s Kaguya), the Chandrayaan-1 (which is “moon craft” in Sanskrit) is set to map lunar topography in 3D, creating (as the ISRO puts it) a “3D atlas” and notably, chemical mapping of the lunar surface.
While I haven’t found any specific references to helium-3 in any Indian or other documentation of the Chandrayaan project, that prominent “chemical mapping” goal suggests that, like Russia, China, NASA, and others, India is seriously interested in the resource potential of the Moon.
The craft is carrying scientific payloads for six other organizations (check that link for specific pages for each one), including NASA, Europe’s ESA, and Bulgaria’s Space Research Institute.
This story got some big media play in the form of a huge front-page Drudge Report splash, with a huge picture of the Moon in the place usually reserved for the likes of Obama and McCain. Here’s that spectacular image (which ran with an “INDIA TO THE MOON!” headline):
I’m a little surprised at the high-profile coverage, as this Indian mission isn’t a whole lot different than JAXA‘s, which didn’t appear to get quite the same sort of media push. I think this speaks to the sort of excitement the Base Race can generate, especially as the significant 2010-2020 decade pulls closer (and as things domestically get more and more grim in the meantime).
The Chandrayaan-1 mission is expected to last for two years, with Chandrayaan-2, a joint Indo-Russian moon rover venture, shooting for 2011.