When India launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019, attention largely focused on the Vikram lander’s hard landing near the Moon’s south pole. Nearly seven years later, however, the mission’s orbiter may be delivering one of the most consequential discoveries in the modern lunar race: strong evidence of subsurface water-ice hidden beneath permanently shadowed craters near the lunar south pole.
The discovery, made using Chandrayaan-2’s Dual Frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar (DFSAR), is more than just a scientific breakthrough. It directly touches the strategic question driving the new global competition for the Moon: who will control access to lunar resources.
Scientists at the Physical Research Laboratory studied “doubly shadowed craters,” depressions located within permanently shadowed regions where sunlight never reaches and temperatures can plunge to nearly minus 248 degrees Celsius. In such extreme conditions, water-ice can remain stable for billions of years.
Using advanced radar polarimetry techniques, researchers identified signatures consistent with subsurface ice in four lunar craters. One crater inside the Faustini basin, measuring roughly 1.1 kilometres wide, showed especially strong evidence. Scientists observed radar reflections and unusual lobate structures around the crater rim that may indicate an impact event exposed ice-rich material buried beneath the surface.
Why lunar water matters
Water on the Moon is no longer viewed merely as a scientific curiosity. It is increasingly seen as the foundation for sustained human activity in space.
Water can provide drinking supplies for astronauts, be separated into oxygen for breathing, and converted into hydrogen fuel for rockets. Access to lunar water would dramatically reduce the cost of deep-space missions because future explorers would no longer need to launch every critical resource from Earth.
This concept, known as in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU), is central to the next generation of lunar exploration plans. Any country capable of extracting and using lunar resources could gain a major strategic advantage in long-duration space missions.
That is why the Moon’s south pole has become one of the most contested regions in space exploration.
Global powers are targeting the lunar south pole
NASA’s Artemis programme aims to return astronauts to the Moon and establish a long-term human presence near the south pole. The region is considered ideal because permanently shadowed craters may contain accessible water-ice deposits, while nearby elevated areas receive near-continuous sunlight that could provide reliable solar power.
China is pursuing similar ambitions. The China National Space Administration plans to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030 and develop the International Lunar Research Station with Russia during the 2030s. Beijing’s long-term lunar strategy is also heavily focused on the south pole because of its resource potential.
India, meanwhile, is rapidly expanding its own ambitions beyond symbolic exploration.
Following the success of Chandrayaan-3, India has announced plans for Chandrayaan-4, a sample-return mission that could further investigate lunar polar resources. The government has also unveiled a broader roadmap that includes sending an Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040.
In that context, Chandrayaan-2’s findings take on geopolitical significance. India is no longer just participating in the lunar race; it is generating critical data that may influence where future missions land and where permanent lunar infrastructure is eventually built.
The Moon’s “oil fields”
The lunar south pole is increasingly being described as the “oil field” of the space age. In the decades ahead, access to water could shape scientific leadership, commercial opportunities and strategic influence in cislunar space.
And in this emerging competition, India may now possess one of the most valuable assets of all: evidence pointing to where usable water could exist beneath the Moon’s surface.
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