Chndrayaan-2 - ISRO Scientists Discovered Moon’s Soil in Ramanujan’s Mahalakshmi Devi Temple

Chndrayaan-2 - ISRO Scientists Discovered Moon’s Soil in Ramanujan’s Mahalakshmi Devi Temple. India's space research organisation ISRO India had to go to the famous Mahalakshmi Devi temple in Namakkal with Chndrayaan-2 Vikram and Chndrayaan-2 Rover Pragya before sending Chandrayaan-2 Moon Mission 2019 to Lunar territory. 

Chndrayaan-2 - ISRO Scientists Discovered Moon’s Soil in Ramanujan’s Mahalakshmi Devi Temple

Maha Lakshmi of Namagiri

Namagiri Thayar is a form of Hindu goddess Maha Lakshmi pooja is performed in Namagiri, a city also called Namakkal, in modern Tamil Nadu, India.  In Hindu Mythology (Though Mythology does not fit to Hinduism), she is the consort of Mahavishnu.  

Srinivasa Ramanujan credits his mathematical findings to the Goddess of Namagiri. According to Ramanujan, she appeared to him in visions, proposing mathematical formula that he would then have to verify.

Testing of Lander Vikram

Lander Vikram had to complete several tests and trials on the ground of Namagiri Thayar temple of Ramanujan before leaving for the lunar trip. The surface of the earth and that of the moon are not same. Thus ISRO needs an artificial moon surface and test the rover and lander. 

Testing of Rover, Pragyaan. Image Credit : ISRO

It was necessary to test the rover, Pragyaan, on soil like Moon so that the scientific and technical experiments on lunar surface go without any obstacle and jerk.The surface of the moon is encased with craters, stones and dust, and the soil has distinct texture as compared to earth's surface. The lander’s legs and the rover’s  wheels had to be checked prior to their journey.

Lunar Soil in India ?

The IANS report clarified that importing substance like  lunar soil from the US was very much deal. (the prevailing price was $150 a kg). ISRO needed about 70 tonnes of soil. Now you can imagine how expensive was to import the soil substances from US. But ISRO did not have much capital to invest in this project. In that situation Ramanujan’s Mahalakshmi Devi temple was remembered by ISRO scientists to find alternatives of Lunar soil substances. Many geologists informed ISRO that there were "anorthosite" rocks available in the soil of Ramanujan’s Mahalakshmi Devi temple near Salem in Tamil Nadu that would be similar to characteristics. of moon soil or Lunar soil. Lunar Soil Collected By Apollo Mission
This anorthosite was abundant in the rocks that were collected by astronauts from US  'Apollo' missions.

Perhaps the moon looks so bright from earth due to the abundance of anorthosite on the lunar surface.The ISRO finalized to take  the "anorthosite" rocks for moon soil from the villages of Sithampoondi and Kunnamalai in Tamil Nadu. The rocks were crushed to the necessary size and transferred to Bengaluru where the Lunar Terrain Testing Facility was located and the test bed was formed. Specialists from National Institute of Technology of Tiruchi,  Periyar University in Salem, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, joined the project, working free of charge. Professional crushers broke down rocks and soil to the sizes of micro grain that the ISRO-led team was looking for. Transporters shifted the tons of this ' lunar earth ' to ISITE without taking any fee.

Image Credit : ISRO

Why explore the Lunar South Pole?

Moon offers the greatest connection to the early history of Earth. It provides an unmodified historical record of the environment of the inner solar system. Although some mature models exist, Moon's origin still requires more explanations. In order to trace back the origin and evolution of the Moon, extensive mapping of the lunar surface is crucial to study variations in the structure of lunar surface.

Water In Moon's Surface?

Proof of water molecules found by Chandrayaan-1 needs further research on the extent of the allocation of water molecules on the ground, below the ground and in the tenuous lunar exosphere to tackle the source of water on Moon.The lunar South Pole is particularly important due to the much bigger lunar surface area here that remains in darkness than at the North Pole. There is a chances of the presence of water in permanently dark areas around it. Moreover, there are craters in the South Pole area that are cold traps and contain an early solar system fossil record.Chandrayaan-2 was endeavoured  to softly land the lander-Vikram and rover-Pragyan in a high plain around two craters, Manzinus C and Simpelius N, at about 70 ° south latitude.