WATER ON MOON; CHANDRAYAN I PIONEERED THE WORLD

WATER ON MOON; WHAT ABOUT ON EARTH

Chandrayan I, the maiden lunar mission of India had detected the existence of water on the surface of Moon much before its demise just previous month. The instrument of NASA called Moon Mineralogy Mapper i.e. MMM or M3 onboard Chandrayan-I has sent data and images which confirm existence of water on Moon ending four decades of speculation. Speculation had been rife and ideas had been vacillating ever since Apollo astronauts brought some sample rocks from the Moon in a box which got contaminated because the box leaked. The scientists therefore could not draw any inference on the basis of these contaminated rocks.

What is MMM or M3- Moon Mineralogy Mapper or triple M, popularly known as M3 is one of the two instruments which NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had fitted on Chandrayan-I to collect images and gather data from the Moon. Chandrayan was fitted with 10 more other equipments apart from this M3. This instrument is led by Principal investigator Carle Pieters of Brown University and was managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. This instrument is manufactured and designed to the state of the art imagining spectrometer which can provide high resolution spatial and spectral map of the surface of Moon.  M3 is a discovery Program, a series of low cost instruments which focuses on scientific space missions. M3 is one such instrument which was installed into Chandrayan-I and sent some information. The instrument picked up electromagnetic radiations from the rocks of the lunar surface.

BASIS OF CLAIM- Scientists have drawn preliminary inference that water could have been formed due to interaction of Oxygen and Hydrogen. The Oxygen might have been present in the rocks and soil present on the lunar surface and Hydrogen might have come due to nuclear fusion taking place in the sun. In fact, due to ongoing nuclear fusion in the sun, the photons are emitted which contain hydrogen. The interaction of Oxygen and Hydrogen (O+H2= H20) forms water and this calculation is the basis on which it is being said that lunar surface has water.

M3 instrument analysed that how the sun light reflected from the surface of moon and mapped electromagnetically the presence of water on the surface. The wavelengths of received from M3 could be easily analysed because each matter gas or liquid has a different wavelength of electromagnetic image.

FINDING OF CENTURY- it is a being termed as the finding of century which brought to an end the four decades of speculation. Although the available water is not in abundant or in pool and is in form of moistures in rocks and soils, it is a big leap in scientific exploration. The NASA has also confirmed this findings with a sense of gratitude towards ISRO and Chandrayan-I.   

CLAMOUR FOR CLAIM- the findings has now been confirmed by NASA and subsequently it has been put to online edition of Science journal. With the completion of these formalities, the exploration is confirmed and the scientific communities have accepted the findings of M3. Although NASA has thanked ISRO for making this discovery possible, quarrel is likely to begin as to who is the real taker of credit, NASA or ISRO. The world and especially west would not like to accept this claim very easily due to inherent societal and scientific temperament whereas the Indian scientist community will leave no stone unturned to stake the claim in its accounts. Director of NASA Jim Green said ‘water ice on the moon has been something of a holy grail for lunar scientists for a very long time’. Commending the discovery, Carle Pieters, Principal Investigator said ‘for silicate bodes, such features are typically attributed to water and hydroxyl-bearing materials’. Downplaying excessive euphoria, she said that evidence of water on the Moon does not mean that it is in lakes and oceans or even puddles, it is in molecules and embedded in rocks.

There is no doubt about the fact that it is a big leap and discovery is made by an instrument which was built and installed by NASA, the association of Chandrayan-I with it can never be ruled out and name of India and ISRO have permanently been associated with this historic scientific event which will pass into the pages of history.