Chandrayaan-3 APXS elemental abundance measurements at lunar high latitude

Santosh V. Vadawale (), N. P. S. Mithun, M. Shanmugam, Amit Basu Sarbadhikari, Rishitosh K. Sinha, Megha Bhatt, S. Vijayan, Neeraj Srivastava, Anil D. Shukla, S. V. S. Murty, Anil Bhardwaj, Y. B. Acharya, Arpit R. Patel, Hiteshkumar L. Adalaja, C. S. Vaishnava, B. S. Bharath Saiguhan, Nishant Singh, Sushil Kumar, Deepak Kumar Painkra, Yash Srivastava, Varsha M. Nair, Tinkal Ladiya, Shiv Kumar Goyal, Neeraj K. Tiwari, Shyama Narendranath, Netra S. Pillai, Arup Kumar Hait, Aaditya Patinge, Abhishek Kumar, Neeraj Satya, Vivek R. Subramanian, Sonal G. Navle, R. G. Venkatesh, Lalitha Abraham, K. Suresh and Amitabh
Additional contact information
Santosh V. Vadawale: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
N. P. S. Mithun: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
M. Shanmugam: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Amit Basu Sarbadhikari: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Rishitosh K. Sinha: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Megha Bhatt: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
S. Vijayan: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Neeraj Srivastava: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Anil D. Shukla: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
S. V. S. Murty: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Anil Bhardwaj: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Y. B. Acharya: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Arpit R. Patel: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Hiteshkumar L. Adalaja: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
C. S. Vaishnava: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
B. S. Bharath Saiguhan: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Nishant Singh: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Sushil Kumar: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Deepak Kumar Painkra: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Yash Srivastava: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Varsha M. Nair: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Tinkal Ladiya: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Shiv Kumar Goyal: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Neeraj K. Tiwari: Physical Research Laboratory (PRL)
Shyama Narendranath: ISRO
Netra S. Pillai: ISRO
Arup Kumar Hait: ISRO
Aaditya Patinge: ISRO
Abhishek Kumar: ISRO
Neeraj Satya: ISRO
Vivek R. Subramanian: ISRO
Sonal G. Navle: ISRO
R. G. Venkatesh: ISRO
Lalitha Abraham: ISRO
K. Suresh: ISRO
Amitabh: ISRO

Nature, 2024, vol. 633, issue 8029, 327-331

Abstract: Abstract The elemental composition of the lunar surface provides insights into mechanisms of the formation and evolution of the Moon1,2. The chemical composition of lunar regolith have so far been precisely measured using the samples collected by the Apollo, Luna and Chang’e 5 missions, which are from equatorial to mid-latitude regions3,4; lunar meteorites, whose location of origin on the Moon is unknown5,6; and the in situ measurement from the Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 missions7–9, which are from the mid-latitude regions of the Moon. Here we report the first in situ measurements of the elemental abundances in the lunar southern high-latitude regions by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) experiment10 aboard the Pragyan rover of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission. The 23 measurements in the vicinity of the Chandrayaan-3 landing site show that the local lunar terrain in this region is fairly uniform and primarily composed of ferroan anorthosite (FAN), a product of the lunar magma ocean (LMO) crystallization. However, observation of relatively higher magnesium abundance with respect to calcium in APXS measurements suggests the mixing of further mafic material. The compositional uniformity over a few tens of metres around the Chandrayaan-3 landing site provides an excellent ground truth for remote-sensing observations.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07870-7

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