The find is getting bigger:
Moon has helium-3 power: ISRO- ET Cetera-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times
BANGALORE: India’s space agency said on Friday that it has been
able to detect deposits on the moon of a mineral which can be used to fuel power plants, a day after the announcement of incontrovertible evidence of the presence of water on earth’s only natural satellite.
The Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which set out on India’s first lunar voyage in October last year, has identified deposits of helium-3 (He-3), accomplishing one of the key objectives of its mission, top officials of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) said.
“Our mineral mapper has identified that there are plenty of these areas where such compounds are present. That gives the indication; we can further look for exact details of the quantity with our Chandrayaan-2 mission,” Isro chairman G Madhavan Nair said. India’s second lunar sojourn is due in 2013.
Believed to be abundant on the moon, the non-radioactive He-3 is regarded as having the potential to power future nuclear fusion reactors for hundreds of years.
Isro said its Moon Impact Probe (MIP) and Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) — two of the 11 scientific instruments that formed the cargo of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft — shattered the belief that the moon is bone dry. The payloads had detected the presence of water some months ago and this was confirmed by data gathered by the American space agency Nasa. “We had indications of water way back in June, but we didn’t want to announce it for the simple reason that this is of global significance,” said Mr Nair.
As Isro’s MIP was descending from Chandrayaan-1 to hit the moon in November, it had picked up strong signals of water particles. “We as Indians can be really proud that we have contributed to the significant finding of water on the moon through Chandrayaan-1.”
Ajey Lele, space analyst at The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), said the discovery has proved that Chandrayaan-1 was not just a carrier of payloads: success was achieved due to the unique orientation, design and manoeuvring of the craft.
Isro said the presence of water on the moon has sparked hope that the lunar surface can be converted into a base for interplanetary exploration and help scientists to study the solar system from the moon by establishing manned or unmanned observatories. The abundant sunlight on the moon, especially at the polar regions, can be used to generate electricity. Data available with the space agencies also provides indications that there is possibility of life on the moon and the planets.
“The basic element for sustaining life is water, which can also be used as fuel. Rockets
can be filled up from such sources on the lunar surface and used to explore Mars.”
Isro will revisit these areas through Chandrayaan-and drill these regions to get samples for analysis. However, scientists have not been able to been able to find abundant water in the form of a sea, lakes or even puddles. Instead, what Chandrayaan-1 has been able to find are traces of water molecules.
“Perhaps we can evolve a technique and if we process one tonne of lunar soil, we may get half a litre of water. At the same time, for the first time in the history of space research, that water is confirmed on the moon,” explained Mr Nair.
JN Goswami, principal scientist for Chandrayaan-1, said finding water on the moon also means that water is present on other planets such as Mars and Mercury as well because they have an abundance of silicon. Isro said finding water is the joint achievement of the entire scientific team and a fine example of how the international community could work together.
“Here within a very short span of time, the entire data was shared between Nasa and Isro. It is an example of how planetary exploration can be pursued through global co-operation,” said Mr Nair. Mr Lele of IDSA said the relationship between Nasa and Isro is growing exponentially as the Americans have understood that Isro is capable and an equal partner.
“The Chandrayaan-1 mission was cheaper than buying a Boeing plane.”
Chandrayaan-1 has relayed over 70,000 images, beside a huge volume of data that has filled the computers of Nasa and Isro.
It may take up to three years to analyse all the data and come up with new discoveries.
“I had earlier said the mission completed 95% of its scientific objectives, but now I say it has met 110% of scientific objectives,” Mr Nair remarked. The Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched on October 22, came to a premature end last month with the snapping of the link with the orbiter. The problems on board the spacecraft, which was to have orbited the moon for two years, started because of sudden overheating when the probe entered its orbital home 100 km over the lunar surface.
