CHANDRAYAAN-I FINDS TRACES OF WATER ON MOON

CHANDRAYAAN-I FINDS TRACES OF WATER ON MOON
*VERY IMPORTANT STEP MADE WITH THE DISCOVRY*
The Chandrayaan- I probe had found traces of water across the surface of large parts of the moon. The space craft also found indications that water is being produced in the lunar soil through interactions with charged particles streaming out from the sun.
The major discovery is a vindication of the Chandrayaan-I mission, which encountered many problems and finally ended abruptly last month.
The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) a U.S supplied instrument that flew on the Chandrayaan-I examined the intensity of different colours of sunlight bouncing off the lunar surface.
The American and Indian scientists report that the instrument found a distinctive signature of water and hydroxyl on the surface soil and rocks at many diverse places in sunlit regions of the moon. The signature was stronger at the higher latitudes. The U.S space missions Cassini and the deep impact space craft had provided supporting evidence. U.S Scientist Carle Pieter’s said “when we say, water on the moon’ we are not talking about lakes, oceans or even puddles. Water on the means molecules of water and hydroxyl that interact with molecules of rock and dust specifically in the top millimeters of the moon’s surface.
How that water might have been produced and where it could have accumulated. ?
The water could cum from different sources. Countless comets and meteors that have crashed in to the moon over billions of years might have brought water. The discovery suggested that water might exist deep inside the moon.
Now the Chandrayaan-I data provides support for the idea that solar wind, made up mostly of hydrogen ions, interacts with oxygen in the lunar soil and rocks to produce water, when hydrogen and oxygen atoms bond, hydroxyl is generated. Addition of one more hydrogen atom results in water.

Prof John KURAKAR