India's Chandrayaan-3 detects presence of oxygen on moon-Xinhua

India's Chandrayaan-3 detects presence of oxygen on moon

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2023-08-29 23:45:45

NEW DELHI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- The rover of India's Chandrayaan-3 has detected signs of the presence of oxygen and several minerals on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Tuesday.

The moon probe landed on the moon's south pole on Aug. 23.

The presence of minerals, including iron, titanium, manganese, silicon, chromium, calcium, aluminum and sulfur, on the lunar surface was discovered by the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Pragyan rover.

"In-situ scientific experiments continue. Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) instrument onboard the Rover unambiguously confirms the presence of Sulphur (S) in the lunar surface near the south pole, through first-ever in-situ measurements. Al, Ca, Fe, Cr, Ti, Mn, Si, and O are also detected, as expected. Search for Hydrogen (H) is underway," said the ISRO in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The LIBS instrument was developed at the Laboratory for Electro-Optics Systems/ISRO in the southern city of Bengaluru, added the ISRO.