India to study water on Moon

Future Chandrayaan series of India’s Moon missions will specifically study water and Helium 3 contents on the surface of Earth’s satellite.

This was the view expressed by Sayed Maqbool Ahmed,  scientist at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and principal scientific
officer at the University of Hyderabad, in the city on Monday.

Ahmed was addressing members of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), Pune centre.

Delivering a talk on Chandra’s altitudinal composition explorer (Chace) used in Chandrayaan-I, he said, “India’s lunar missions showcase our engineering and technology skills, national pride and rejuvenates young minds.”

According to him, though imaging was difficult, Chace had provided direct evidence of water in the lunar environment.

The scientist was of the opinion that the success of Pokhran had inspired Indian scientists to think big and resulted in missions like the Chandrayaan-I.

Explaining Chace, Ahmed said the instrument was made to work at lunar temperatures and pass a thermo vacuum test and vibration test. Ahmed said, “Chace enabled us to realise that water on the moon was available beneath huge craters found on the southern and northern hemisphere.”