Moon drier than Earth without water: Satellite

Feb. 14: There is very little water on the moon, according to data sent by a Japanese satellite.

Information sent by Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), a satellite and two sub-satellites launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2007, has shown that the crust and interior of the moon are drier than that of the Earth.

“The information collected by us from the Lunar Laser Altimeter (LALT) onboard SELENE proves that the crust and interior of the moon are drier than that of the Earth. The conclusion is possible from the unprecedented accuracy and resolution of the SELENE generated lunar topography,” Prof C K Shum, School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, told Deccan Chronicle.

The findings of the Japanese satellite have made Chandrayaan-1, India’s lun-ar mission, the cynosure of all space scientists now.

Chandrayaan has on board the Mini Synthetic Aperture Radar (MiniSAR), Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and High Energy X-ray Spectrometer (HEX) capable of detecting ice in the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles up to a depth of few meters.

According to Prof Shum, Chandrayaan has the largest collection of scientific instruments to observe the moon. Prof Shum, a member of the LALT investigation team, said that the higher spatial resolution of the lunar topography was 'rougher’ than Mars and the Earth. “Together with the fact that there is an absence of plate tectonics on Mars, one can conclude that Moon is drier than the Earth,” he said in an e-mail message.

The high-resolution map confirmed that there was very little water even deep in the interior of the moon, he said.

Prof Shum also said that SELENE had sent maps of craters in the poles which were hitherto unexplored.