Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander detects ‘natural’ seismic movement

Bengaluru – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said that Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram Lander has recorded a “natural event”, indicating seismic activity on the Moon’s surface near the South Pole.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
In-situ Scientific Experiments

Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere – Langmuir Probe (RAMBHA-LP) payload onboard Chandrayaan-3 Lander has made first-ever measurements of the near-surface Lunar plasma environment over the… pic.twitter.com/n8ifIEr83h

— ISRO (@isro) August 31, 2023

The seismic activity-detecting equipment — The Instrument for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload — on board the Lander also detected vibrations taking place due to the movements of the mission’s Pragyan Rover and other payloads, the ISRO said.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:

In-situ scientific experiments continue …..

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements.… pic.twitter.com/vDQmByWcSL

— ISRO (@isro) August 29, 2023

Another instrument onboard the Rover confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the region, through another technique. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectroscope (APXS) has detected S, as well as other minor elements. This finding by Ch-3 compels scientists to develop fresh explanations for the source of Sulphur (S) in the area: Is it intrinsic, volcanic, meteoritic, etc.