Scientists studying data from India's Chandrayaan-2 mission have found new evidence suggesting the presence of ice beneath the Moon's surface near its South Polar Region.
The research, carried out by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), used observations from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter's Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR) to analyze permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) near the lunar south pole.
Temperatures in these regions remain extremely low, around 25 Kelvin, making them ideal locations for preserving water-ice for long periods.
The study identified radar patterns consistent with subsurface ice beneath the floors of four doubly shadowed craters in the lunar South Polar Region.
Researchers introduced a refined radar-based method for identifying potential subsurface ice deposits, which may indicate volumetric scattering linked to subsurface ice deposits.
One crater, measuring 1.1 km in diameter inside the larger Faustini crater, emerged as the strongest candidate for subsurface ice presence, with evidence coming from radar observations and the crater's unusual lobate-rim morphology.
