Mumbai: The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and US space agency NASA should deploy
surface robotic penetrator in `Chandrayaan-II` mission to
study more about the presence of water molecules on moon,
former President APJ Abdul Kalam has suggested.
"I suggested to both ISRO and NASA to work on future
mission of Chandrayaan-II using moon surface robotic
penetrator during my recent visit to California Institute of
Technology in US, where NASA scientists presented the findings
of Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) to Indian scientists," Kalam
told students during an interaction today.
The missile man was here to inaugurate the national
science seminar on `Chandrayaan: Promises and Concerns` for
school students, organised by the National Council of Science
Museum.
He said more validations are being carried out by the
scientists on India`s Moon Impact Probe (MIP) about the
presence of water on lunar surface.
Kalam told students that he had also suggested space
scientists to make spacecrafts weighing one-kilogram by 2050
to cut costs and bring it down to USD 2,000 from USD 20,000.
India`s own device MIP on `Chandrayaan-I` detected the
presence of water on lunar surface, a finding confirmed by
NASA which also had an instrument on board the craft.
The MIP while descending from Chandrayaan-I to moon,
picked up strong signals of water particles giving a clear
indication that hydroxil (OH) as water molecules are present
on the surface.
Bureau Report
