Chandrayaan-3 | Not just sons of Tamil Nadu but State’s soil itself contributed to Moon mission

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

Namakkal, Tamil Nadu:

Since 2012, Namakkal, which is about 400 km from the State capital Chennai, has supplied soil to ISRO for testing for the Chandrayaan Mission capability, as the earth in that district is similar to that of the lunar surface.
- The soil was available in abundance in places like Sithampoondi and Kunnamalai villages surrounding Namakkal, and also in some areas in Andhra Pradesh and northern parts of the country.
This has enabled ISRO to test and refine the ability of the lander module to soft land on the surface of the Moon, given that the properties of the Namakkal soil are similar.
Tamil Nadu has the kind of soil that is present on the lunar surface, particularly that which is very similar to the soil present at the southern pole [of the Moon].
The lunar surface has ‘Anorthosite’ [a type of intrusive igneous rock] type of soil.