National Space Day Chandrayaan 3 mission completes one year scientists said there was an magma ocean

Today, on 23 August, India is celebrating its first National Space Day. National Space Day was announced after the success of Chandrayaan-3 mission. On this day last year, India’s Vikram Lander landed on the South Pole of the Moon and India became the first country in the world to do so. This day has now become even more special because the Pragyan Rover that went with Vikram Lander has made a new discovery about the Moon.

According to reports, Santosh Vadavale of the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) and his team have found that the outermost layer of lunar soil, called regolith, around the landing site had a uniform elemental composition, consisting mainly of ferroan anorthosite rock.

The team of scientists has also found evidence of a magma ocean near the south pole of the moon, which may have existed there in the past. According to a report in the Times of India, scientists have said that the results obtained from the data of Chandrayaan-3 have confirmed the idea of ​​a magma ocean on the moon.

This means that the Moon’s mantle was formed when heavy metals sank inwards and lighter rocks floated on the surface, forming the outer surface of the Moon. This study Journal Nature It has been published in. This information has been obtained from the data sent by the Alpha Particular X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) installed on the payload of Pragyan Rover. APXS was developed by the scientists of PRL. It was made to test the soil of the moon.

What was the moon like when it was formed?

It is hypothesized that when the Moon formed, it was entirely an ocean of magma. As the magma cooled, heavier minerals sank, forming the inner layer of the Moon. Heavy minerals include olivine and pyroxene. While lighter minerals such as plagioclase floated there, forming the outer layer of the Moon.

Magma is molten rock under the ground. It may contain some solid rock pieces and volcanic gas mix.