Earth's Magnetic Tail Supercharges Moon's Ionosphere, ISRO Reveals

India's Chandrayaan-2 mission has made a historic discovery regarding the ionosphere of the Moon. The plasma density of the Moon increases exponentially while moving through the tail of the Earth's geomagnetic field. Electron densities of around 23,000 per cubic centimeter in the Moon's wake region, about 100 times higher than in the day side, were discovered by researchers at ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. The phenomenon occurs due to residual lunar crustal magnetic fields trapping plasma. The discovery contradicts prevailing theories on lunar plasma dynamics and has long-term implications for lunar missions to come, including radio communication and surface charging effects.

 

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)