ISRO Reports Natural Occurrence on Moon’s Surface Captured by Vikram Lander
On Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that the Instrument of Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload, located on the lander module Vikram of Chandrayaan-3, has captured a mysterious occurrence on the lunar surface on August 26. The source of this event is currently being investigated.
“The Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on the Chandrayaan 3 Lander is the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)-based instrument on the moon. It has recorded the rover’s movements and other payloads,” ISRO said.
On the social media platform X, the space agency said: “In addition, it has recorded a seemingly natural event on August 26, 2023. The source of this event is under investigation.”
ILSA consists of six highly sensitive accelerometers, which are manufactured domestically using the Silicon Micromachining process. The sensor element of the core consists of a spring mass system with comb-shaped electrodes. External vibrations cause the spring to bend, resulting in a change in capacitance that is converted to voltage.
ILSA’s primary goal is to measure ground vibrations caused by natural earthquakes, shocks and artificial events. The picture shows the vibrations that were recorded during the navigation of the ATV on August 25, 2023. In addition, an event recorded on August 26, 2023 is also shown, which seems natural. The source of the incident is currently being investigated.
The ILSA payload was designed and implemented at LEOS, Bangalore with support from private industry. The deployment mechanism for placing the ILSA on the lunar surface has been developed by URSC, Bengaluru.
India took a giant leap on August 23 when the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully touched the moon’s south pole, making it the first country to achieve the historic feat. The country became only the fourth – after the United States, China and Russia – to successfully place a lander on the moon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi later announced that the Vikram lander’s touchdown point on the lunar surface will henceforth be known as the ‘Shiv Shakti’ point.
