Discovery of Water on the MoonThis was confirmed on 24 September 2009, when Science Magazine reported that NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has detected water on the moon. M3 detected absorption features near 2.8-3.0 µm on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to hydroxyl- and/or water-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer H abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of OH and H2O is an ongoing surficial process. OH/H2O production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an imaging spectrometer, was one of the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-I that came to a premature end on 29 August. M3 was aimed at providing the first mineral map of the entire lunar surface. Lunar scientists have for decades contended with the possibility of water repositories. The moon, in fact, has water in all sorts of places; not just locked up in minerals, but scattered throughout the broken-up surface, and, potentially, in blocks or sheets of ice at depth. The results from the NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are also offering a wide array of watery signals. New data from Chandrayaan-1 has revealed how the moon produces its own water. Much like a big sponge, it absorbs charged particles emitted by the sun, which then interact with oxygen on the lunar surface to produce water. A scientific instrument on Chandrayaan-1 - the Sub keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer or SARA - made this discovery that was published in the latest edition of the Planetary and Space Science journal. According to European Space Agency (ESA) scientists, hydrogen nuclei from solar winds are absorbed by the lunar regolith (a loose collection of irregular dust grains making up the moon’s surface). An interaction between the hydrogen nuclei and oxygen present in the dust grains are expected to produce hydroxyls and water.SARA, developed by the ESA and the Indian Space Research Organization, was designed to study the moon’s surface composition and solar wind-surface interactions. Recently, another instrument on the Indian spacecraft, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper - an imaging spectrometer developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration - first found water molecules on the lunar surface. SARA’s results also highlight a mystery: not every hydrogen nucleus is absorbed. One out of every five rebounds into space, combining to form an atom of hydrogen. Hydrogen shoots off at speeds of around 200 km per second and escapes without being deflected by the moon’s weak gravity, the team found. This knowledge provides timely advice for scientists who are readying ESA’s BepiColombo mission to mercury. The spacecraft will carry two instruments similar to SARA and may find that the innermost planet is reflecting more hydrogen than the moon because the solar wind is more concentrated closer to the sun. Discovery of Caves on the MoonChandrayaan-1 has discovered large caves on the lunar surface that can act as human shelter on moon. The tunnel, which has been discovered near the lunar equator, is an empty volcanic tube, measuring about two km in length and 360 meters in width. This could be a potential site for human settlement on moon. Earlier, Japanese aircraft Kaguya had also discovered a cave on moon.
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Chandrayaan Mission Achievements