Chandrayaan-3 Mission Detects Sulphur On Moon

The measurements were made by an instrument…

New Delhi: On Wednesday, 30 August 2023, the first-ever on-site measurements of the south polar region of the moon confirmed the presence of Sulphur on Earth's only natural satellite, ISRO said.

The measurements were made by the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3's rover, Pragyan.

The space agency said that the measurements confirmed the presence of sulphur in the region “unambiguously”, which was not feasible using the instruments onboard the orbiters.

The presence of oxygen, calcium and iron has also been detected and the search for hydrogen is going on.

"Preliminary analyses, graphically represented, have unveiled the presence of Aluminum (Al), Sulphur (S), Calcium (Ca), Iron (Fe), Chromium (Cr), and Titanium (Ti) on the lunar surface.

Further measurements have revealed the presence of Manganese (Mn), silicon (Si), and oxygen (O2). Search regarding the presence of Hydrogen is going on," an ISRO statement said.

The agency said yesterday that the rover had been rerouted safely after encountering a four-meter crater on the lunar surface. The crater had been spotted three meters from the edge.

On August 23, India created history on August 23 by becoming the first country to achieve a landing near the south pole of the moon. It had also joined an elite club of countries - Russia, the US and China - to have successfully landed on the lunar surface.