Chandrayaan 2's orbiter DFSAR releases image of 'impact Craters' on lunar surface

Bengaluru, Oct 23: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hasn't said anything about the Chandrayaan-2's lost Vikram lander yet, but the agency has released details of the observations made by DFSAR payload on the spacecraft's orbiter.

Chandrayaan2's orbiter DFSAR which is designed to produce greater details about the morphology and ejecta materials of impact craters on the lunar surface has released the pictures of the same on the south polar region of the moon.

Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR): The dual frequency (L and S) SAR will provide enhanced capabilities compared to Chandrayaan 1's S-band miniSAR.

The main scientific objectives of this payload are to carry out High-resolution lunar mapping in the polar regions, quantitative estimation of water-ice in the polar regions, and estimation of regolith thickness and its distribution.

What are Impact Craters?

Impact craters are formed when impactors such as meteorites smash into the moon's surface. The factors affecting the appearance of impact craters include the size and velocity of the impactor and the geology of the surface.

Last week, ISRO which has started spectroscopic studies on the surface of the Moon, released the first illuminated images of the lunar surface which were acquired by Chandrayaan-2's Imaging Infrared Spectrometer (IIRS) payload, that is circling the Moon. The IIRS is designed to measure reflected sunlight from the lunar surface in narrow and contiguous spectral channels.