Chandrayaan-1’s C1XS first X-Ray signature from the Moon

Chandrayaan-1’s Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer (C1XS) has successfully detected the first X-ray signature from the Moon.
The C1XS is sensitive to elements like aluminum, magnesium and silicon. Chandrayaan-1’s C1XS is one of the 11 payloads aboard Chandrayaan-1 jointly developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the UK’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory to detect the presence of elements like titanium, iron, calcium, magnesium, aluminum and silicon on the moon.

ISRO chairman G.Madhavan Nair said that the development and materialization of C1XS was “a major achievement” and that the first signatures obtained were “highly encouraging.”

Chandrayaan-1 was launched from Sriharikota on October 22, 2008, and is now orbiting the Moon at an altitude of 100 km.

C1XS detected the X-ray signals on December 12, 2008 from a region close to the Apollo landing sites. The C1XS was designed to detect x-ray fluorescence that is 20 times weaker than what it has actually detected, which is also considered a remarkable achievement. Ms. Shyama Narendranath, Instrument Operations Scientist at ISRO shared her delight over the subject,”C1XS has exceeded expectations as to its sensitivity and has proven by its performance that it is the most sensitive X-ray  spectrometer of its kind in history.”

The C1XS collected 3 minutes of data from the Moon just as the flare started and the camera finished its observation. Radiations from the sun activates the CIXS and reports say that the maximum in solar activity will shortly reach the expected intensity.

Apart from the C1XS, the Chandrayaan-1 has other payloads like radar and particle detectors as well as instruments that will make observations in the visible, near infrared and soft and  hard X-rays.

Ever since Chandrayaan-1 entered the lunar orbit on November 8, 2008, it has been consistently sending useful information to ISRO. On December 18, 2009, M3, an instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1, sent the first 3D of the Moon’s surface. The data sent by the M3 will help scientists to study mineral resources found on the Moon.

The Mini-SAR radar NASA’s second instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1, has sent photos of the darkest craters in the interior of the moon.