Chandrayaan-3 detected 250 historic seismic signals on the Moon

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India's Chandrayaan-3 mission has achieved a significant achievement in lunar exploration by detecting more than 250 seismic signals from the Moon's south pole. This marks a historic advance in understanding lunar seismic activity, contributing to future research and exploration of the lunar surface.

Background

Chandrayaan-3 is India's third lunar mission, launched on July 14, 2023, with the primary objective of achieving a soft landing on the lunar surface. This mission includes a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan.

Unlike Chandrayaan-2, it does not include an orbiter. On August 23, 2023, Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed near the South Pole of the Moon, an important region for scientific exploration and possible future lunar missions.

Recent discovery of Chandrayaan - 3 on the Moon?

During its operation from August 24 to September 4, 2023, the mission's Lunar Seismic Activity Instrument (ILSA) detected 250 seismic signals, 50 of which were unrelated, possibly indicating lunar earthquakes.

ILSA, based on MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) technology, is the first instrument of its kind to measure seismic activity on the Moon, particularly from its South Pole.

While 200 signals were attributed to mission-related movements, the unrelated signals are believed to represent actual lunar earthquakes. One of the most important discoveries was a 14-minute long seismic event, the longest ever recorded on the Moon.

Conclusion

Seismic findings from Chandrayaan-3 represent a major advance in lunar science, providing new information about the geophysical properties of the Moon.

The publication of these findings in the journal ICARUS highlights the importance of the mission's contribution to understanding lunar seismic activity, particularly in an unexplored region such as the South Pole.

Way forward

More research is needed to investigate the origin of the unrelated seismic signals detected by Chandrayaan-3. As LEOS director Shriram emphasized, more studies will be important to fully understand the mysterious seismic events.

This mission sets the stage for future lunar exploration, especially in areas such as the South Pole, which could be key to deeper information about the Moon's composition and potential for future space missions.