Quake on Moon? Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander detects 'natural' seismic event on the lunar surface

Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander has detected a "natural" seismic event on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Thursday. The space agency said that one lander payload - Instrument for the Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) - has recorded the movements of the rover and other payloads. "Additionally, it has recorded an event, appearing to be a natural one, on August 26, 2023," ISRo said, adding that the source of this event is under investigation.

The ISRO said that ILSA's primary objective is to measure ground vibrations generated by natural quakes, impacts, and artificial events. The vibrations recorded during the rover's navigation on August 25 are depicted in the figure, the space agency said, sharing a graph on X, formerly Twitter. "Additionally, an event, seemingly natural, recorded on August 26, 2023, is also shown."

Earlier in the day, the space agency said that lander payload RAMBHA-LP has made first-ever measurements of the near-surface Lunar plasma environment over the south polar region. "The initial assessment indicates that the plasma near the lunar surface is relatively sparse."

In another update, the ISRO said that one rover payload - Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) - is trying to find out the elemental composition of soil and rocks on the Moon. The space agency said that the APXS observations have discovered the presence of interesting minor elements, including Sulfur, apart from the major expected elements such as Aluminum, Silicon, Calcium, and Iron.