After decades in the background, we’re seeing a resurgence of interest in the moon. The most ambitious project of this period is Artemis, which aims to implement The return of humanity Satellite and laying the groundwork for a permanent station, but we also meet others like Chandrayaan from India, whose discoveries are very valuable.
India’s lunar exploration program has been running for two decades. Chandrayaan-1 (2008) found water on our rocky neighbor Chandrayaan-2 (2019), whose lander was thought to be missing, and Chandrayaan-3 (2023) was a complete success, gathering science data on the surface, such as temperature. of the South Pole, and identify chemical elements.
Sulphur, an important element discovered by Chandrayaan-3
When the lander for the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed on August 23, it carried a rover equipped with a scientific instrument called LIPS. Spectroscopy system propelled by a laser to probe the lunar surface. After turning it on, aluminum, calcium, chromium, iron, manganese, oxygen, titanium and silicon, along with percentages of sulphur, According to ISRO.
This is, no doubt, news that goes unnoticed within the scientific community. If we want to create a sustainable presence on the satellite, we must learn to make the most of the natural resources available there, and sulfur is a very important element that can offer a wide range of possibilities. According to Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Some scientists consider sulfur a suitable substitute for chemical elements that are volatile by planetary science. We see in them Oxygen, nitrogen and water. Because we will need to build and assemble structures on the Moon, sulfur can be used to make “concrete” or sealing putties to help stabilize the pressure of certain structures.
The uses of sulfur go even further. The aforementioned study highlights the electrical properties of this chemical compound, which opens the door for its use in photovoltaic cells. Sulfur, for example, is beginning to be considered as a substitute for lithium along with calcium. So on the Moon it will also become a key resource for making batteries in situ.
Images: ISRO
In Xataka: India’s Chandrayaan-3 is considered by many to be just a lunar probe. They are completely wrong: it is much more than that
