NEW DELHI — India’s moon rover showed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole because it searches for indicators of frozen water just about per week after its historical moon touchdown, India’s area company stated Tuesday.
The rover’s laser-induced spectroscope tool additionally detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar floor, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, stated in a post on its web page.
The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft after ultimate Wednesday’s landing near the moon’s south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is predicted to habits experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has stated.
The rover “unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur,” ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.
The rover also will study the moon’s atmosphere and seismic activity, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said.
On Monday, the rover’s route was reprogrammed when it came close to a 4-meter-wide (13-foot-wide) crater. “It’s now safely heading on a brand new trail,” the ISRO said.
The craft moves at a slow speed of around 10 centimeters (4 inches) per second to minimize shock and damage to the vehicle from the moon’s rough terrain.
After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India last week joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.
The successful mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with the image that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project: an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.
The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million.
India’s success came just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.
Active since the Nineteen Sixties, India has introduced satellites for itself and other nations, and effectively put one in orbit round Mars in 2014. India is making plans its first project to the International Space Station subsequent 12 months, in collaboration with the United States.
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