Indian Space Agency, ISRO got the patent for the technique of making moon-like sand. ISRO made the soil at the time of Vikram Lander and Rover Pragyan. At the time of Chandrayan -2 launching, India made sand similar to the surface of the moon. The Vikram Lander and Rover Pragyan were tested on this.
Indian Patent Office gave ISRO patent on 18 May. They first applied on 15 May 2014 and this patent is valid for the next 20 years.
A scientist who discovered this technique
Venugopal, SA Kannan, Shamrao, V Chandra Babu plays a vital role in discovering this technique. The research team includes S. Anjhagan, S. Arivjhagan, CR Paramshivam and S. Chinamuthu from Department of Geology of Periyar University, Tamil Nadu and Muthukumaran from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli.
Former director of UR Satellite Centre M Annadurai told the news agency that the surface of the Moon and The Earth is totally different. The reason we had to make artificial soil is that they have to test Lander and Rover that resemble exactly like the surface of the Moon. He further added that importing moon’s soil from America would be a very expensive deal and ISRO needed around 70 tonnes of soil so they needed a permanent solution.
It was made using Anthracite rock from Tamil Nadu’s Salem which matches the rocks present on Moon. Initially, the scientist gave grind the rock and took it Bangalore for further testing. It was converted to the resemblance of Moon’s surface and then the testing site was ready. This sand and samples of Moon’s soil bought by Apollo -16 matched.
There are two types of surfaces on Moon. The first is known as Highland. 83% of surface is highland in which calcium and aluminium content is more as compared to other minerals. This type of soil is made by ISRO.The second type is Mayer. The visible black crater contains this kind of soil. The maximum percentage of Iron, Magnesium and Titanium is found.
