Vignyana Kathegalu

Water on the Moon & the renaissance in lunar exploration

Speaker: Professor Mahesh Anand (School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA)

Date and time
Webinar link
Youtube Live Link
Venue
RRI Auditorium

Abstract

The pull of the Moon on our imagination is unrivalled, as best demonstrated by the Apollo programme. Fifty years on, humanity now stands at the cross-roads of technological advancement and scientific knowledge, ushering in a new era of robotic space exploration.

The Moon is becoming a favourite target for established and emerging space-faring nations and commercial entities. In addition to national pride and scientific curiosity the renaissance in lunar exploration is driven by an increased realisation of the Moon as a technology testbed for exploring more distant bodies such as Mars and asteroids.

Furthermore, the possibility of utilising the Moon and its constituents as resources for sustaining an extended presence on its surface has heralded an era of 'New Space' by attracting private and commercial bodies towards lunar exploration.

Our vision of the future sees a sustainable presence of humans at the lunar surface. For this, the natural resources present there must be explored and utilised. Research that describes the nature of the body also can provide the technological basis for Living on the Moon!

Poster

Short Biography
Mahesh Anand is a Professor of Planetary Science and Exploration at The Open University, UK. Born and brought up in Varanasi, India, he received his BSc and MSc degrees from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), respectively. He secured a prestigious scholarship, which enabled him to undertake a PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK. Afterwards, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tennessee, USA and at the Natural History Museum, London before joining The Open University in 2005 as an academic staff member.
Mahesh’s research work has spanned geological studies of ancient igneous terrains on Earth to diamonds to lunar, martian and other meteoritic samples. His recent research has focussed on understanding the history of volatiles in lunar samples, specifically, the abundance, distribution and source(s) of water in the lunar interior.
Mahesh has supervised over 30 PhD students and postdocs and has published over 120 research papers in journals of high scientific standing. His other research interests include the application of scientific knowledge derived from fundamental research to inform planetary exploration programmes and inspire the next generation through knowledge exchange activities.
Among many services to the community, he served as a Vice President (2019-2021) of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and has chaired the UK-node of the NASA Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) since its inception in 2009, comprising of over 100 members from 15 UK higher education institutions.