GUWAHATI, July 8 � Some important developments are taking place in the State in connection with the Team Indus� Moon Mission to land a robot on the Moon in a $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE global competition. The State scientists have proposed to send an electronic nose to the Moon to know the �lunar atmosphere� � the elevated presence of atomic and molecular particles in its vicinity.
It needs mention here that each of the 23 contending teams taking part in the Google competition, is to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon �until the end of 2015,� have that robot travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send video, images and data back to the Earth.
Talking to this correspondent, Prof Manabendra Bhuyan of the Tezpur University Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, said that he proposed to the Team Indus members during their visit to Tezpur University on July 2, development of an electronic nose (e-nose) to detect lunar gases.
Prof Bhuyan is conducting a research on development of e-nose since 2003 in collaboration with CBAC, Kolkata, basically to help the tea industry. The equipment developed by this collaboration are being successfully used by many tea companies in the country and abroad.
The Team Indus members, who included its leader Rahul Narayan and members Sudip Kar and Samir, evinced keen interest in the idea and proposed to collaborate with Tezpur University in this respect. An MoU would be signed between Tezpur University and Team Indus on the matter shortly, Prof Bhuyan said.
Prof Bhuyan further informed that Vice Chancellor of Tezpur University Prof MK Choudhury was also very much eager to collaborate with the Team Indus mission.
