New Delhi. In a historic scientific breakthrough, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced that its Chandrayaan-2 has for the first time observed the effects of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun on the Moon using its scientific instrument. This is an unprecedented achievement that no other space agency in the world has ever achieved before.
This observation will help in understanding the influence of space weather on the Moon’s exosphere and thin atmosphere and its surface. India’s Chandrayaan-2 orbiter has achieved a historic feat, detecting for the first time how a solar storm (Coronal Mass Ejection – CME) affects the Moon’s exosphere. The CHACE-2 (Chandra Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2) instrument mounted on Chandrayaan-2 made this historic discovery. During a rare solar event that occurred on May 10, 2024, a series of CMEs impacted the Moon.
This resulted in a dramatic increase in the total pressure of the outer atmosphere of the Moon’s day side. ISRO scientists reported that the number density of neutral atoms and molecules in the exosphere increased by more than a decade, which was earlier limited to only theoretical estimates. This discovery is not only a matter of pride for India’s space science, but it also provides important data for future moon missions and space weather research.
