It’s a major feat on the part of Chandrayaan-1 again. Only after substantiating the presence of water on the lunar surface, India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission has found out mini-magnetosphere that would throw light on the “inventory” of Hydrogen on the moon. Commenting on this Dr Anil Bhardwaj, the Principal Investigator for SARA, SARA (Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer), an instrument on board the country’s first lunar orbiter, has made the discovery.

As per his assertions, the existing concept on the inventory of Hydrogen on the moon would change now. Dr Anil Bhardwaj said all these while addressing the platinum jubilee meeting of the Indian Academy Sciences here. “The amount of inventory of Hydrogen on the lunar surface would be much different than we thought earlier. It would be lesser (than previously thought),” he said.

Bhardwaj, Head, Planetary Science Branch at ISRO’s Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, said there was a “theoretical conjecture” that probably the small magnetic field can form mini-magentosphere on moon. SARA’s findings are “first confirmation that prove that mini-magnetosphere can exist with such small magnetic field”.

“This is the first step towards the confirmation of a theoretical suggestion that mini-magnetosphere can be produced,” he said.

Chandrayaan-1 happens to be India’s first mission to Moon and was launched effectively on October 22, 2008 from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota. The spacecraft was orbiting around the Moon at a height of 100 km from the lunar surface for chemical, mineralogical and photo-geologic mapping of the Moon. The spacecraft has been found to contain 11 scientific instruments built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria. After the successful completion of all the major mission objectives, the orbit has been raised to 200 km during May 2009.

The mission was a great encouragement to India’s space program, as India researched and developed its own technology in order to explore the Moon.