Astronomy
Among the six international payloads onboard Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to the Moon, was a NASA radar. Called the Mini-RF synthetic aperture radar (SAR), it has sent its first images back to Earth revealing some information about two of the Moon's darkest and coldest craters.
These two craters are not the craters you can just point to with a telescope and admire. In fact, that will never be possible because these are always hidden from the Earth and never illuminated by the Sun. But the images taken on November 17, 2008 offer the first glimpse of this previously mysterious part of Earth's natural satellite. Since the craters are never lit up, radar is an ideal tool for imaging these craters. In the images taken by the radar, such as the one on the right of Seares crater, the topography of the lunar surface is revealed, with the brighter areas representing parts where the land sticks out towards the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. The scientists working on this project hope that analysis of this data will help reveal ice deposits in the craters, where the Sun never shines.
As the image below shows, the Mini-RF SAR is really beneficial in learning more about Earth's closest neighbor. It shows what is seen with an observatory on the Earth, and how much priceless information that the radar image adds.
For more information, visit:
Images: NASA
Astronomy and Space celebrates International Year of Astronomy 2009
- A Giant Leap In Moon Mission
Chandrayaan-1 has achieved a new milestone as it discovered 600 million metric tons ice on the Moon's North Pole. The announcement was made at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Congress , organised by Houston- based Lunar and Planetary Institute....
- Chandrayaan-i Moon Mission Over
Ten months after it was launched, India's maiden moon mission the Chandrayaan-1 came to an abrupt end today after ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft. Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission said that the mission is over as we have lost...
- No Water Ice Found In Japanese Lunar Mission
Japanese Selene lunar orbiter have failed to detect any signs of water in permanently shaded craters around the South pole of the Moon. Although the Japanese lunar orbiter found no ice it did find a crater much deeper than other lunar craters of a similar...
- New Map Shines Light On Moon?s Shadowed Craters
A new high resolution map of the Moon?s rugged south pole region provides new and unprecedented detail of permanently shadowed craters that could be hiding water ice deposits. The discovery of water ice reservoirs on the Moon would be a significant...
- Water Ice On The Moon
Image: ISRO With the help of ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and NASA's Mini-RF Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument it carried onboard, more than 40 craters have been detected on the Moon to contain water ice. These craters are small and...
Astronomy
Exploring the Darkest Craters of the Moon
Among the six international payloads onboard Chandrayaan-1, India's first mission to the Moon, was a NASA radar. Called the Mini-RF synthetic aperture radar (SAR), it has sent its first images back to Earth revealing some information about two of the Moon's darkest and coldest craters.
These two craters are not the craters you can just point to with a telescope and admire. In fact, that will never be possible because these are always hidden from the Earth and never illuminated by the Sun. But the images taken on November 17, 2008 offer the first glimpse of this previously mysterious part of Earth's natural satellite. Since the craters are never lit up, radar is an ideal tool for imaging these craters. In the images taken by the radar, such as the one on the right of Seares crater, the topography of the lunar surface is revealed, with the brighter areas representing parts where the land sticks out towards the Chandrayaan-1 orbiter. The scientists working on this project hope that analysis of this data will help reveal ice deposits in the craters, where the Sun never shines.As the image below shows, the Mini-RF SAR is really beneficial in learning more about Earth's closest neighbor. It shows what is seen with an observatory on the Earth, and how much priceless information that the radar image adds.
For more information, visit:
- NASA
Images: NASA
Astronomy and Space celebrates International Year of Astronomy 2009
- A Giant Leap In Moon Mission
Chandrayaan-1 has achieved a new milestone as it discovered 600 million metric tons ice on the Moon's North Pole. The announcement was made at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Congress , organised by Houston- based Lunar and Planetary Institute....
- Chandrayaan-i Moon Mission Over
Ten months after it was launched, India's maiden moon mission the Chandrayaan-1 came to an abrupt end today after ISRO lost communication with the spacecraft. Project Director of the Chandrayaan-1 mission said that the mission is over as we have lost...
- No Water Ice Found In Japanese Lunar Mission
Japanese Selene lunar orbiter have failed to detect any signs of water in permanently shaded craters around the South pole of the Moon. Although the Japanese lunar orbiter found no ice it did find a crater much deeper than other lunar craters of a similar...
- New Map Shines Light On Moon?s Shadowed Craters
A new high resolution map of the Moon?s rugged south pole region provides new and unprecedented detail of permanently shadowed craters that could be hiding water ice deposits. The discovery of water ice reservoirs on the Moon would be a significant...
- Water Ice On The Moon
Image: ISRO With the help of ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft and NASA's Mini-RF Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument it carried onboard, more than 40 craters have been detected on the Moon to contain water ice. These craters are small and...