India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission may have made one of the most significant discoveries yet in the global search for water on the Moon, with scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory identifying strong evidence of subsurface water ice hidden inside ultra-cold lunar craters.
The findings, published in the journal npj Space Explorationare based on radar observations made by Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter near the Moon’s south pole, a region considered crucial for future human exploration and lunar base missions.
The team, which included PRL’s Rishitosh Sinha, Rajiv Bharti, Kinsuk Acharyya, Sanjay Mishra, Neeraj Srivastava, and Anil Bhardwaj, analysed data from the orbiter’s Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR), an advanced instrument capable of peering a few metres beneath the lunar surface.
The study focused on nine “doubly shadowed craters” located inside larger permanently shadowed craters near the South Pole.
Unlike ordinary lunar craters, these regions remain in near-complete darkness for billions of years. Their steep walls block not just sunlight, but also reflected heat and scattered radiation, creating some of the coldest environments in the Solar System, with temperatures dropping to nearly minus 248 degrees Celsius.
Scientists believe such extreme cold allows water ice delivered by comets, asteroids, or ancient volcanic activity to survive beneath the surface.
The team found that four of the nine craters studied showed radar signatures strongly consistent with buried water ice deposits. The most compelling evidence came from a crater, F2, within the larger Faustini crater.
According to the researchers, the crater displayed unusually high circular polarisation ratio values along with low depolarisation signals, patterns that indicate radar waves were likely interacting with underground icy material rather than rough rocks.
The discovery is significant because scientists have long debated whether radar reflections seen at the Moon’s poles were caused by water ice or simply rocky terrain. The new study proposes a refined method to distinguish between the two.
The researchers concluded that a combination of high CPR values and a very low degree of polarisation provides a reliable indicator of subsurface ice.
The findings could play a major role in future lunar missions.
Water on the Moon is considered one of the most valuable resources for long-duration human exploration. Ice can potentially be converted into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and even rocket fuel for missions deeper into space.
The lunar south pole has become the focus of a growing international race involving Nasa, China, and India, all of which are planning future missions to the region.
India’s Chandrayaan-2 discovery now adds crucial evidence that the Moon’s south pole may contain hidden reservoirs of ancient ice preserved in deep natural freezers beneath the lunar surface.
Scientists say the ice deposits appear unevenly distributed, suggesting some craters may hold significantly larger reserves than others, an insight that could shape where future astronauts land on the Moon.
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