The recent findings by India’s third Lunar Exploration Mission Chandrayan3 confirms theories about early formation of moon
On Aug,23, 2023 India successfully landed the Lunar exploration mission Chandrayan3 on moon’s south pole becoming first nation on earth to do so. Now in August 2024, scientists in India have released the findings of study carried out by rover “Pragyan”. The findings consist of analysis of soil in south pole which mission have landed firstly.
The findings published in journal Nature by Dr. Vadawale and team consists the presence of rock type called “ferroan anorthosite” which is common on earth in lunar soil. This finding is important because it can be confirmed by US Apollo Mission and erstwhile soviet union’s Luna mission which was seen from moon’s equator in 1960. This findings can imply presence of ocean of magma that blanketed the moon’s surface 4 billion years ago.
The study supports the widely accepted hypothesis that lunar surface was covered by molten material initially in the phase of moon’s formation . the data collected by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer(APXS) also contain the information regarding the elemental composition of soil of moon.
The moon is thought to have been formed after an asteroid collided the earth 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists theoretically assumes…
