Moon chemistry shows signs of carbon dioxide

Indian scientists are at the moment wary of making the disclosure about this significant discovery as a complete research paper is yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal.
However, in a research paper in the latest issue of the journal ‘Planetary and Space Science’, a seven-member team from Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, and the University of Hyderabad have shown that moon has a large amount of carbon dioxide in its ambiance.

The paper on the discovery of water by the moon impact probe (MIP) skirted the issue of carbon dioxide presence on the moon. But a mass spectrometer image gives away the fact. The image shows two distinct spikes representing discovery of two molecules. The first spike at 18 atomic mass unit (amu) corresponds to water as its molecular mass is 18. The second spike at 44 amu indicates carbon dioxide whose molecular mass is 44.

“The sample data we provided in the paper does show carbon dioxide. But I cannot comment anything more, including its origin, because its scientific basis is yet to be published in a journal. A detailed paper on carbon dioxide discovery is being communicated to the journals,” team leader R Sridharan at VSSC told Deccan Herald.

Before Sridharan and ISRO make an official disclosure, they want to be absolutely certain that carbon dioxide is definitively a part of the moon’s ambiance and does not come as a contaminant. The last Apollo mission – Apollo 17 in 1972 – also carried a mass spectrometer and detected carbon dioxide as well as other inert gases like helium, neon and argon.

But due to data inadequacy, the Apollo team discarded its carbon dioxide data, dubbing it  a contaminant.  Researchers familiar with Chandrayaan instrumentation said carbon dioxide cannot be an earthly contaminant because of an inherent property.

“Carbon dioxide has high permeability because of which nature pumps it from the system. It cannot stick on any instrument and get carried to the moon,” said a scientist, adding the gaseous substance could not have been be locally generated during the Chandrayaan-I’s journey to the moon and the MIP’s high-speed crash on the lunar surface.