ISRO gets patent for manufacturing Moon Soil, How it will help in Moon Travel?
ISRO to make Moon Soil in India with a patent in hand
Gaining the patent was amongst the few essential things required to begin with procuring Regolith on Earth.
ISRO has also found all the necessary factors such as mineralogy, grain size distribution, bulk chemistry and geo-mechanical properties,as per patent application.
To understand it's significance better we should first understand the surface of the Moon,
The surface of the Moon has two hemispheres with rather asymmetric properties
So we can classify it into two types
Near side - which is visible from Earth and turned towards us
Far side - which is not visible from Earth
The near side is divided into light areas and dark areas
Light areas are called the Lunar Highlands much more like mountains on Earth
Dark areas are called the Maria which are lower in altitudes
The dark materials seen in Maria is because of solidified lava from the earlier periods of volcanism
Both the Maria and Highlands exhibit large craters caused due to meteoric impacts.
The side of the Moon unseen from Earth is called Far side.
One of the discoveries of the first Lunar orbiters is that the Far side has a very different appearance than the Near side.
In particular, there are almost no Maria on the Far side.
The Chandrayaan 2 mission of ISRO was aimed at Far side because South Pole region has craters that are cold traps and contain a fossil record of the early Solar System.
Back in 2008 ISRO created a proto-Lunar Terrain Test Facility (LTTF) at it's advanced satellite testing unit, ISITE, in Bengaluru.
However to realize that dream, equipping the LTTF and making it look and feel like being on the moon was the first challange.
It needed Lunar soil with almost all it's features and texture, lunar temperatures, low gravity and the same amount of sunlight as on the moon.
The LTTF facility that was being prepared needed 60-70 tonnes of soil for it's testing purpose.
Geologists of various national agencies found that a few sites near Salem in Tamil Nadu had the Anorthosite rock that somewhat matches lunar soil in composition and features.
Professionals crushers broke down the rocks and soil to micro grain sizes sought by the ISRO-led team..
Transporters moved the tonnes of this 'lunar earth' to ISITE, all free of charge.
The Anorthosites that are common in the Lunar Highlands are not common on the surface of the Earth. They form the ancient cores of continents on the Earth, but these have largely been obliterated due to sedimentary deposits and tectonic activity over period of time.
The Highlands rocks are largely Anorthosite.
The difference between ISRO's lunar soil simulant and other agency's simulants is that ISRO has successfully found a way to replicate highlands where others created moon soil which is generally found in the flat regions of the Moon.
ISRO chief K. Sivan in his statement revealed that this new progress of the space agency will ensure successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3 rover through a sustainable preparation stimulus.
So what do you think where India stand in Space race. Can India be first one to make a Moon base. Do let me know in the comments.
Chandrayaan 3 is expected to launch in 2021
The article is published by Ravi Prakash, spokesperson for Sarv Vigyan Foundation
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