Context:
The Pragyan rover has found crucial evidence bolstering the claim about the lunar surface being made up of magma.
Relevance:
GS III- Space
Dimensions of the Article:
- Significance of the findings
- About Chandrayaan-3
- Mission Objectives
Significance of the findings:
- The finding bolsters the claim that the moon’s surface was composed of magma when it was first formed 4.5 billion years ago and lends credence to the Lunar Magma Ocean hypothesis.
- This theory puts forwards that the moon was formed out of a giant collision which melted several kilometres of the moon’s surface.
- This meant that, at its inception, the moon was entirely covered by an ocean of hot magma, which took millions of years to cool and solidify into rocks.
About Chandrayaan-3:
- As the name suggests, the Chandrayaan-3 is the successor to the Chandrayaan-2 mission and it will likely attempt another soft-landing on the lunar surface.
- It will be almost a repetition of the July 2019 Chandrayaan-2 mission in the configuration of spacecraft, the landing spot on the moon and the experiments to be conducted on the lunar surface.
- Although scores of landers sent by Russia, the U.S. and the Chinese have explored the moon’s surface, so far, no other agency has landed in the southern hemisphere of the moon. ISRO hopes to be the first to do so.
Mission Objectives
- Try and build on the evidence of water molecules shown by Chandrayaan-I and study the extent and distribution of water on the Moon
- Study topography, seismography, composition of lunar surface and the lunar atmosphere
- The study of ancient rocks and craters can offer indications of origin and evolution of the Moon.
- The South Pole region of the Moon also contains clues to the fossil records of early solar system. Thus, it will improve our understanding of the early solar system as well.
-Source: The Hindu, Down to Earth
