The Moon and Chandrayaan - Part 1/2

In this episode we gaze at the moon, rediscover our romantic cosmic neighbour, — is it as pleasant as it seems or is it a hostile place with a violent past. What’s the story of  moon mountains, gravitational lumps and permanent shadow region(PSR)?  What’s the story of water in moon, where is it present and how did we come to know. More importantly why is the moon a great candidate to decipher our cosmic origin.

Listen to the two part series - to learn a little deeper about the moon and the context of Chandrayaan 3 mission to truly appreciate the endeavour. What does all of these missions mean to us, as a citizen of the planet. Where and how are we going to go in the next few decades from a space travel standpoint.

We lay it all out - in this simple yet inspiring conversation with Jatan Mehta.

Reach out to us at [email protected]

Jatan’s Blog - https://blog.jatan.space

Why we explore the moon -https://blog.jatan.space/p/why-explore-the-moon

How are lunar mountains different from earth mountains- https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/lunar-mountains-craters-landing-sites-solar-system/

The story of water being found on moon- https://blog.jatan.space/p/ultimate-guide-to-water-on-the-moon

Lumps in the moon’s gravitational field-https://blog.jatan.space/p/the-moons-lumpy-gravity-field

Tool to explore the PSRs- https://quickmap.lroc.asu.edu/query?extent=-21.6741319%2C-48.3039112%2C-3.1485562%2C-38.9146241&id=lroc&highlightFeatureId=0&showTerrain=true&queryFeature=1&queryOpts=N4IgLghgRiBcIBMKRAXyA&layers=NrBsFYBoAZIRnpEBmZcAsjYIHYFcAbAyAbwF8BdC0yioA&proj=10

Lunar South Pole atlas-https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/lunar-south-pole-atlas/#illustrations

Nasa spinoff-https://spinoff.nasa.gov

About episode cover: (Moon rendered in green)

Topography of Earth's moon generated from data collected by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter, aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, with the gravity anomalies bordering the Procellarum region superimposed in blue. The border structures are shown using gravity gradients calculated with data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission. These gravity anomalies are interpreted as ancient lava-flooded rift zones buried beneath the volcanic plains (or maria) on the nearside of the Moon.

Gravity Gradients Frame Oceanus Procellarum

Photojournal: PIA18822

Image Credit: NASA/Colorado School of Mines/MIT/GSFC/Scientific Visualization Studio

Published: July 9, 2018

https://moon.nasa.gov/resources/267/gravity-gradients-frame-oceanus-procellarum/