Chandrayaan-3’s Finds Evidence of Magma on Lunar Surface

The Pragyan rover (part of Chandrayaan-3 mission) has found crucial evidence to further strengthen the claims of moon’s surface being composed of magma during its formation  4.5 billion years ago

Key Highlights of the Findings

• Site: The Pragyan Rover searched 23 sites around its landing point ‘Shiv Shakti’ to collect and test soil samples and measure seismic activity and atmospheric conditions. 
• Instrument used: The 23 measurements were taken by Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) onboard the rover.
• Objective: To find evidence for the  Lunar Magma Ocean Hypothesis theory
  • First Propounded: The Hypothesis was first predicted by the Apollo programme, testing and analyzing the moon’s regolith in equatorial and mid-latitude ranges.
  • The Theory: The moon was formed out of a giant collision which melted several kilometres of the moon’s surface and entirely covered it by an ocean of hot magma at its inception, which took millions of years to cool and solidify into rocks. 
• Finding: 
  • Uniform Regolith: The experiment showed that the moon’s surface ‘regolith’ was mainly uniform and primarily composed of ferroan anorthosite (FAN), a type of lunar rock. 
    • The Regolith is a layer of rock fragments that covers the exposed surfaces of airless bodies in space, such as the Moon.
  • Proving the Lunar Magma Ocean hypothesis theory: Pragyan Rover has confirmed the Hypothesis for high altitude regions as well near the lunar south pole.
  • Presence of Anorthosites (FAN): The presence of Anorthosites (a lightweight silica mineral) also points that the moon had a liquid, lava crust in the beginning  allowing lighter elements to stay afloat and the heavier ones to sink to the bottom.

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