A team of researchers from Periyar University along with a team from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a professor of NIT, Tiruchi, has received patent for the lunar soil manufacturing process developed by them for Chandrayaan-2 mission.
A four-member team led by S.Anbalagan, Director of Centre for Geoinformatics and Planetary studies in Periyar University, helped ISRO identify and produce the ‘lunar’ simulant soil for its lander and rover tests for the Chandrayaan mission. The team manufactured ‘Lunar’ simulant soil from ‘anorthosite’ rock collected from Sithampoondi and Kunnamalai villages in Namakkal.
Mr. Anbalagan said, “we have been conducting research on anorthosite soil even before the Chandrayaan mission. Mylswamy Annadurai, then Director of ISRO came to know about this and he formed a task force in ISRO.” He added that the lunar simulant soil was essential to conduct various tests as part of the mission.
Mr.Anbalagan said that ISRO applied for patent rights in 2014 and after thorough processing, the patent was granted to the team on May 18. Mr. Anbalagan said that besides economical benefits, the patent would help in further research in resource utilisation and lunar mission explorations.
