After finding traces of water molecules and hydroxyl molecule in the moon's polar regions, Chandarayaan-1, India’s maiden scientific experiment to the moon has provided evidence of the presence of ice deposits near the moon's north pole. The NASA backed Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar (Mini-SAR) onboard Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has, found upto 40 craters containing water ice.
These craters are located on a stretch of about 15 kilometres on the northern pole of the moon, which are permanently under shadow and remain well below freezing point at all times. NASA estimates that there might be at least 600 million tonnes of water ice within these craters.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which conducted the experiment says that the Mini-SAR mapped the moon’s permanently dark polar craters which are invisible from the Earth. The radar uses the polarisation properties of reflected radio waves to characterise the surface properties. Results from the mapping showed deposits with radar characteristics similar to ice, ISRO said in a statement.
Paul Spudis, Principal Investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment said, “The new discoveries by Chandrayaan-1 and other lunar missions show that the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought."
Launched in October 2008, Chandrayaan-I mission was aborted prematurely last year.
Mini-SAR and Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) are two of the 11 instruments on Chandrayaan-1.
The Applied Physics Laboratory, US performed the final integration and testing on Mini-SAR. It was developed and built by the Naval Air Warfare Center and several other commercial and government agencies in the US.
