If there’s a place you’d least expect movement, it’s the moon.
Since humans realized there were other celestial bodies to explore, the question of extraterrestrial life has captivated us.
Yet, despite many years of exploration, we haven’t encountered any alien beings – particularly on the moon, a place where humans have actually landed.
So, it might be surprising to hear that the Pragyan rover, delivered by India’s Chandrayaan-3 Vikram lander, detected movement on the moon’s South Pole.
This lander made history as the first to reach the lunar south pole in August 2023. It traveled equipped with an Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) designed to detect occurrences on and beneath the moon’s surface.
In its statement, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) elaborated: “ILSA comprises a cluster of six high-sensitivity accelerometers, which are indigenously fabricated using the Silicon Micromachining process. The core sensing element consists of a spring-mass system with comb-structured electrodes.”
“External vibrations lead to a deflection of the spring, resulting in a change in capacitance which is converted into voltage.”
To those on Earth, the moon might seem like a serene, motionless body with not much activity. However, in a press release on August 31, 2023, ISRO provided updates from the ILSA recordings, revealing a different story.
The device captured a series of vibrations on August 25, illustrated in a graph shared by ISRO, along with another ‘event’ the next day.
ISRO described the event as ‘seemingly natural’, but noted its significance: “The source of this event is currently under investigation.”
It’s easy to speculate about aliens beneath the moon’s surface causing these vibrations, but considering ILSA’s main purpose, that seems improbable.
The instrument is designed to detect vibrations from natural quakes, impacts, and artificial activities, suggesting that the movement was likely due to a natural shift on the moon.
Nevertheless, it’s fascinating to discover activity in a place that seems so unchanging!