Indian scientists analyzed the data on the moon's temperature collected from Chandrayan-3 mission in 2023. These conditions correspond to the environment of places where future missions will land. The moon tapes can become a water source for astronauts. The study was published in the Journal of Earth & Environmental Media.
Moon Ice is one of the main interested subjects of scientists. It can become a water source for future tasks. Previously, it was thought that many ice reserves could be hidden in the deep holes near the poles, where the sunlight was almost non -drop, but there was no exact data on its distribution.
Until recently, the only measurements of the Moon surface were carried out by Apollo missions in the 1970s. But they landed near the equator, where the conditions were very different from the places that were said to be of future tasks.
In 2023, the Vikram landing module of the Indian mission “Chandrayan-3” successfully landed on the moon in the latitude area of 69 °. There is a clean device on the train, measuring the temperature on the moon surface and soil at a depth of 10 cm.
The measurements show that the temperature on the slope faces the sun at an angle of 6 ° reaches 82 ° C, and on a flat surface in a meter from the device is 59 ° C. This means that the tilt angle of the terrain greatly affects the temperature and thus the ability to form ice.
Now Indian scientists have analyzed data and created a temperature distribution model on the moon. They discovered that on the slopes moving from the sun, when it tilted more than 14 °, the conditions may be suitable to accumulate ice just below the surface. These conditions are similar to the arrangement of the earth on the poles of the Moon, including landing locations for future tasks. According to the authors, the ice area on the moon may be more and more affordable than before.