ISRO Confirms: The Moon Was Previously a Hot Molten Rock in New Study

The six-wheeled, 26-kilogram Pragyan moon rover traveled nearly 103 meters on the lunar surface and made a big finding related to the Moon’s history. The team of scientists from ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 has published the first scientific results in a prestigious British scientific journal. The lead author of the paper, Dr. Santosh V. Vadawale confirmed that the Moon was once a hot and fiery ball of molten rock some 4.4 billion years ago. This finding supports the Lunar Magma Ocean hypothesis and sheds light on the Moon’s early history.

Experts theorize that a Mars-size planetary body striking Earth around 4.5 billion years ago led to the formation of the Moon. The elemental composition of the lunar soil is found to be similar to that of Earth’s soil. This significant finding provides insight into the deep historical past of the Solar System. India’s successful landing near the South Pole made global history, marking the first such landing in that region.

The analysis of the lunar soil opens up possibilities for future scientific and habitation explorations. The Pragyan rover collected data on 23 measurements at various spots along a 103-meter tract of the lunar surface, providing information about the elemental composition of the Moon’s regolith. The results suggest the presence of remnants of a former ocean of magma, supporting the Lunar Magma Ocean hypothesis. Moreover, the finding also presents the possibility of using lunar regolith for agricultural purposes when the Moon is permanently inhabited in the future.