New Delhi:The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has provided new scientific evidence that points to the possible presence of ice beneath the Moon's surface in its south polar region.

The findings come from the Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR) onboard Chandrayaan-2, a microwave imaging instrument operating in L- and S-band frequencies. It is the first fully polarimetric radar system used to study the lunar surface.

According to the press release by ISRO, the study focused on “doubly shadowed craters” which are located within permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) at the lunar poles. These areas never receive sunlight and remain extremely cold with temperatures dropping to around 25 Kelvin (around -248°C). This makes them potential traps where water ice could have been preserved for billions of years.

Scientists used advanced radar polarimetric methods to study the craters and found “possible presence of subsurface ice beneath the floors of four doubly shadowed craters in the lunar South Polar Region.”

They developed a method to detect possible subsurface ice on the Moon using radar data. The approach uses Circular Polarization Ratio (CPR) and Degree of Polarization (DOP) values.

DOP measures how much of the reflected radar signal retains its original polarization after interacting with lunar surface or subsurface materia

Source:Ndtv