India’s Chandrayaan-3 rover confirms sulphur on moon’s south pole
Al JazeeraJUL 2023
India's Lunar Mission Finds Remnants of Magma Ocean on Moon
Above: Vikram lander and Pragyan rover seen at the UR Rao Satellite Center, Bengaluru, on Sept. 19, 2023. Image copyright: Pallava Bagla/Contributor/Corbis News via Getty Images
The Spin
Narrative A
This discovery is a game-changer for spacefaring nations' dreams of ultimately building a human base on the moon. If ice water is also discovered on the moon's south pole, it will facilitate prebiotic chemistry that can produce and feed life and make deep-space expeditions to places like Mars possible.
Narrative B
This research is debatable because the Pragyan rover found more olivine elements than pyroxene elements on the lunar surface, contradicting the findings of previous missions. Moreover, the moon lacks plate tectonics — even if there's liquid water, it may lack the organic chemistry necessary to support life.
Metaculus Prediction
There's a 50% chance that NASA will next land astronauts on the moon by March 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
