Ahmedabad’s Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) has contributed to many ISRO Projects, including Chandrayan-3. In the ongoing Chandrayaan-4 lunar mission, PRL will play a leading role in research for the first time by collecting and preserving samples from the moon, gathered by an Indian robot.

The main objective of Chandrayaan-4 is to collect samples and return them. The rocks and lunar dust collected from the moon will be brought to the two PRL laboratories – NanoSIMS lab and the Ex-terra lab.

Dr Kuljeet Kaur Marhas, head of the Planetary Science Division at the Planetary Laboratory of PRL, mentioned in an interview that many remnants obtained from space explorations are stored, and samples are preserved at Ahmedabad’s PRL for research on lunar soil, dust, and asteroid samples. 

She said that recently, PRL’s main labs are collaborating with global researchers from space agencies like America’s NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, and Japan’s JAXA. 

“Continuous meteoroids and lunar materials from various locations around the world necessitate an extensive study in one place. At PRL, the team is studying the components of these materials and the atoms and molecules present in space samples,” said Marhas.

She also stated that during the 2015-16 moon mission, the aim was to bring India to the global level, beginning with the study of water samples on the moon. However, the current focus is on meteoroids and whatever has fallen on the moon. 

PRL in Ahmedabad’s Navrangpura was founded in 1947 by Dr Vikram Sarabhai, often regarded as the ‘father of the Indian space programme’.

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