Oxygen was found on the moon during an operation carried out by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission Chandarayaan-3, responsible for the discovery, had already achieved the feat unheard of reaching the south pole of the moon, including India in the group of 4 countries that have already been on lunar soil, the United States, Russia, China and, now, India.
With more good news for the Indians, the probe sent on the mission found the presence of oxygen, sulfur, aluminum, iron, calcium, titanium, manganese and silicon on Earth's natural satellite. The discoveries were made possible by the Laser Induced Decomposition Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument aboard Chandrayaan-3.
The probe will remain on the Moon for another week. in search of frozen water. In addition, the Indian Space Research Organization plans to launch a three-day manned mission to Earth orbit in 2024.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
The path traced to find oxygen on the Moon
The process for finding oxygen in
Moon started in 2008 with Chandarayaan-1, released on the 22nd of October. That was India's beginnings in deep space exploration. The objective was to make a chemical and mineralogical analysis of the Moon, in addition to the geographic mapping of some lunar regions.In the first months of 2009, Chandarayaan-1 had already achieved part of its goals in space. But, in the middle of the same year, the probe began to present technical problems and in August the contact with it was completely lost.
Ten years later, ISRO launched Chandarayanan-2 that took to the Moon a probe, a rover (vehicle that moves on the surface of a planet or satellite), a landing module and an orbiter (a vehicle that orbits the celestial body without landing on its surface). The objective of this mission was a more detailed study of the Moon and its surface.
ISRO describes the Chandarayaan-3 as a continuation of Chandarayaan-2. The last leg was officially launched on July 14, 2023, at 06:05 am Brasilia Time.
Recent Indian advances and discoveries include India in a select group of countries that reached the Moon and makes India the first country to land on the south pole of the Moon. The scientific importance of this mission is also not far behind, as the data collected and shared by the Indian operation will be essential for the future of research on the earth's natural satellite, particularly with regard to the presence of frozen water in craters located in more remote locations on the Moon.
