Chandrayaan-3: Vikram Lander Detects Lunar Quake

Bengaluru: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that its Chandrayaan-3 mission has detected a lunar quake. The quake was detected by the Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload, which is located on the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram.

The ILSA payload is a significant advancement in space technology. It is the first time that Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology has been used on the moon to monitor lunar seismic activity.

Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
In-situ Scientific Experiments

Instrument for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) payload on Chandrayaan 3 Lander
— the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the moon —
has recorded the movements of Rover and other… pic.twitter.com/Sjd5K14hPl

— ISRO (@isro) August 31, 2023

The quake was detected on August 26, 2023. It is believed to be of natural origin, but the source of the quake is still under investigation.

The ILSA payload is made up of six highly sensitive accelerometers that were produced domestically using Silicon Micromachining technology. Its primary objective is to assess ground vibrations resulting from natural earthquakes, collisions, and engineered incidents.

The ILSA payload was developed at LEOS in Bangalore, with contributions from private industries. The deployment system used to position ILSA on the lunar surface was engineered in Bengaluru by URSC.

ILSA also measures the lunar plasma environment

In addition to detecting the lunar quake, the ILSA payload has also successfully measured the lunar plasma environment near the lunar surface in the south polar region.

The lunar plasma is relatively sparse, but these quantitative measurements hold the potential to mitigate interference caused by lunar plasma in radio-wave communication and improve future lunar mission designs.

The development of the ILSA payload is led by SPL/VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram.