In a shocking revelation, the past existence of a huge magma ocean at the south pole of the moon has been revealed through the Chandrayaan-3 mission from India. The work, published in the journal Nature, gives insight into the lunar surface and its history on Earth.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission accomplished a historic landing near the south pole of the Moon in August 2023 and brought back data of invaluable worth to scientists. Some payloads were carried on board by the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover, including experiments for analyzing lunar soil and rocks. Of the many results, an X-ray spectrometer aboard the rover made nearly two dozen measurements recorded across a 103-meter tract of the lunar surface, showing it is remarkably uniform in elemental makeup, comprising one main type of rock that points to the existence of a magma ocean.
However, the said study’s co-author and a director at Ahmedabad’s Physical Research Laboratory, Anil Bhardwaj, said that the count has tallied up quite perfectly with an ancient magma ocean, which the make-up identified as including a spectrum of elements such as: sodium, aluminum, magnesium, carbon, silicon, sulfur, potassium, iron, titanium, chromium, and manganese. This means that the formation of the moon was time-consuming when it was covered by molten magma.
It is believed that the moon was formed ∼4.24 billion years ago by a giant impact between a proto-Earth and a Mars-sized body. Considerable amounts of molten material from this giant impact were projected into orbit around the proto-Earth. The accretion of this material resulted in the formation of the moon, which condensed from the disk of material orbiting the Earth surrounding the synestia. Probably, it is correct that the magma ocean did survive for tens to hundreds of millions of years before cooling and solidifying.
As Santosh Vadawale, a lead author of the study and a professor at the Physical Research Laboratory, explained, less dense ferroan anorthosite floated to the lunar surface as a result of the cooling process, while the heaviest minerals sank to form the lunar mantle. At the same time process created the lunar highlands made of lighter rock that is rich in a type of anorthosite known as ferroan anorthosite.
All prior models of the geology of the moon were based on samples from mid-latitude areas, like those delivered by NASA’s Apollo missions. The new findings of Chandrayaan-3 bring subtly different views on the formation and evolution of the moon, particularly for this lesser-researched southern zone.
However, the discovery of the ancient magma ocean on the south pole of the moon will have far greater implications for future lunar exploration. Such a kind of discovery has always been given attention by NASA and other interested space agencies due to the probable presence of water ice, which is considered key for deep space exploration. Water ice that can be extracted can serve purposes such as drinking, breathing, and even a source of hydrogen and oxygen in rocket fuel.
The successful landing near the south pole of the moon has been a great achievement related to space exploration. The mission Chandrayaan-3, literally “moon craft” in the ancient Indian language Sanskrit, was given very useful scientific data in showing India’s growing abilities in space exploration.
Vadawale also mentioned that the next mission would pack off to detect permanently shadowed areas lying close to the poles, estimated to contain water. This research is going to reveal secrets in the ongoing project for other future missions.
The Indian Chandrayaan-3 mission has taken giant strides in understanding the development of the ancient history of the moon, with the information given back of an initially molten surface that later cooled and solidified. This opens up new avenues to undertake investigations on the need for continued lunar research.