The unique capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope would help locate oxygen-bearing minerals on the moon critical for a future manned exploration, US space agency NASA said on Wednesday.

The moon does not have a breathable atmosphere, so oxygen-bearing minerals such as ilmenite (titanium and iron oxide) may be a potential source of oxygen for astronauts to breath or to power rockets, scientists explained.

NASA's Hubble team said the resolution and sensitivity to ultraviolet light of the telescope have allowed them to search for important oxygen-bearing minerals on the moon.

The images acquired in new observations provide scientists with a new tool to study mineral variations within the lunar crust.

As NASA plans future expeditions to the moon, such data, in combination with other measurements, will help ensure the most valuable sites are targeted for robotic and human missions, scientists said .

"These observations of the moon have been a challenging and highly successful technological achievement," said Jennifer Wiseman, program scientist for the Hubble. "The images will inform both scientific studies of lunar geology and future decisions on further lunar exploration."

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys snapped ultraviolet and visible light images of known geologically diverse areas on the side of the moon nearest Earth. These included the Aristarchus impact crater and the adjacent Schroter's Valley. Hubble also photographed the Apollo 15 and 17 landing sites, where astronauts collected rock and soil samples in 1971 and 1972.

Scientists are comparing the properties of the rock and soil samples from the Apollo sites with the new Hubble images, and the Aristarchus region, which neither humans nor robotic spacecraft have visited.

The Hubble observations of Aristarchus crater and Schroter's Valley will help refine researchers' understanding of the diverse, interesting materials in the region and to unravel their full resource potential, scientists said.

"Our initial findings support the potential existence of some unique varieties of oxygen-rich glassy soils in both the Aristarchus and Apollo 17 regions. They could be well-suited for visits by robots and human explorers in efforts to learn how to live off the land on the moon," said Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Scientists are confident that these new observations will help better inform exploration decisions, Garvin noted.

Source: Xinhua