Water on Moon not of foreign origin: ISRO

MUMBAI: What’s the source of water molecules on the Moon? Have these originated from sources outside the Moon — the belief so far — or are these generated on the moon itself? According to Mylswamy Annadurai, Chandrayaan-1 project director, the water molecules came from the Moon surface — a major revelation made possible by the Indian mission.

Dispelling the age-old belief, Annadurai said: ‘‘The current thinking was that only other planetary bodies were the source of water molecules on the Moon. But, this mission has changed the thinking. The new theory is that the water molecules were not from an outside source, but are being generated then and there. This is now being analyzed.’’

Annadurai made this announcement on Saturday during a presentation at the SIES College where he honored a large number of student toppers.

Soon after NASA’s announcement that its Moon Minerology Mapper (M3) had discovered water molecules in the Moon’s polar regions, many space experts believed that the source of water molecules could have been anoutside source like comets or solar winds. They believed that these molecules could have been deposited several billion years ago and had remained there. Annadurai said these water molecules were found for the first time in the sunlight region of the Moon.

‘‘This is something new and we are also analyzing this phenomenon. The thinking was that these molecules could only exist in the shadowed regions of the Moon’s crater. ‘‘Chandrayaan-1 has revolutionized planetary science,’’ he added. According to him, the discovery of water molecules is only the tip of the iceberg. ‘‘It is only the starting point. More answers are coming,’’ he said.

Though Chandrayaan-1 was terminated on August 30 following a communication failure, it has obtained ‘‘reams of data”. ‘‘Chandrayaan-1 has shown that we can walk shoulder-to-shoulder with NASA. Chandrayaan-1 is truly a symbolic achievement and is set to cross greater historic milestones in the days ahead,’’ Annadurai stated.

He said one of the reasons why Chandrayaan-1 was able to complete its scientific goals within a year instead of two is because Isro obtained data from the mooncraft on a 24-hour basis instead of the earlier 12-hour schedule.