Bengaluru: In a landmark scientific breakthrough, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced that its lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-2 has made the first-ever observation of the effects of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) from the Sun on the Moon’s exosphere.

The observation was made using the Chandra’s Atmospheric Composition Explorer-2 (CHACE-2) instrument onboard the orbiter.

During a rare solar event on May 10, 2024, a series of CMEs impacted the Moon, leading to a significant increase in the total pressure of the dayside lunar exosphere — the extremely thin atmosphere surrounding the Moon.

ISRO scientists reported that the number density of neutral atoms and molecules in the exosphere increased by more than an order of magnitude, confirming theoretical predictions that had ne

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