NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and ISRO's Chandrayaan-2 Create First-Ever Sodium Distribution Map
India's Chandaryaan 2 mission is a landmark endeavour. On July 22, 2019, the probe left the Satish Dhawan Space Center and headed for the stars. The amount of sodium on the Moon has been documented for the first time thanks to a payload on India's Chandrayaan-2 satellite.
This amazing feat was made possible by the CLASS X-ray spectrometer instrument on board the orbiter. This instrument was created by the U R Rao Satellite Centre of ISRO in Bengaluru, and it provides distinct indications of the sodium line thanks to its exceptional sensitivity and performance. Insights gained from Chandrayaan-2's exploration of the Moon's surface-exosphere interaction can be applied to modelling conditions on Mercury and other breathable-air-deficient worlds in our solar system and beyond.
The sensitive spectrometer found two types of sodium on the moon's surface: one is loosely bound to grains on the crust, and the other is contained within the moon's minerals. The new data gathered by Chandrayaan-2 can be applied to studies of the interaction between the Moon's surface and exosphere, which in turn can be used to inform simulations of life on Mercury and other airless worlds in our solar system and beyond.
The sensitive spectrometer found that there are two types of sodium on the moon's surface, one of which is loosely bound to the grains that make up the moon's crust and the other of which is present within the moon's minerals. With this, we can better understand how the Moon's surface and exosphere interact.The faint sodium glow surrounding the Moon, the hue of light emitted by a sodium vapour lamp, has been seen to telescopes on Earth since 1988.
The data collected by Chandrayaan-2, according to ISRO scientists, would be used to create models of surface-exosphere interactions on the Moon and other airless worlds in the solar system and beyond.
Source Content:
- https://in.mashable.com/science/39831/isros-chandrayaan-2-maps-sodium-abundance-for-the-first-time-on-moon
- https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/isro-chandrayaan2-finds-sodium-on-moon-for-the-first-time-1665389155-1
- https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/chandrayaan-2-spectrometer-reveals-abundance-of-sodium-on-moon/story
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