Chandrayaan-3 has just discovered it in Antarctica

After decades in the background, we are seeing renewed interest in the Moon. The most ambitious program of this era is the Artemis Program, which aims to achieve… The return of humanity To the satellite and lay the foundations for a permanent station, but we also find others like Chandrayaan from India whose discoveries could be of enormous value.

The Indian lunar exploration program has been in development for two decades. Chandrayaan-1 (2008) discovered water in our rocky neighbor, Chandrayaan-2 (2019), experienced a malfunction and its lander was reported lost, and Chandrayaan-3 (2023) was an absolute success, collecting scientific data on the surface, such as the Antarctic temperature and determining Chemical elements.

Sulfur, a vital element discovered by Chandrayaan-3

When the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on August 23, it deployed a rover equipped with a scientific instrument known as LIBS, which uses… Spectroscopic analysis system Lasers to study the surface of the moon. After running it, he found aluminum, calcium, chromium, iron, manganese, oxygen, titanium, and silicon, along with a percentage of sulfur. According to ISRO.

This is undoubtedly news that does not go unnoticed within the scientific community. Given that if we are to develop a sustainable presence on the satellite, we will have to learn how to make the most of the natural resources available there, sulfur becomes a very important element that can offer a wide range of possibilities. According to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Some scientists believe that sulfur is an ideal alternative to those considered volatile chemical elements by planetary science. Among them we find Oxygen, nitrogen and water. As on the Moon, we would have to build and assemble structures, and sulfur could be used to make “concrete” or sealing pastes that could help ensure the pressure of some structures.

Sulfur’s uses can go even further. The aforementioned study sheds light on the electrical properties of this chemical compound, which opens the door to its use in photovoltaic cells. For example, sulfur is beginning to be considered an alternative to lithium alongside calcium. So on the moon it could also become a major supplier for on-site battery manufacturing.

Photos: ISRO

In Chataka: Many believe that India’s Chandrayaan 3 probe is just a lunar probe. They are completely wrong: it is much more than that