# Lunchbox-Sized X-Ray Telescope Could Deliver the First Full Chemical Map of the Moon

*2026-06-08 18:02 UTC · Science · 1 min read*

> A sub-10-kg X-ray telescope could map oxygen, iron and other key elements across the entire Moon within two years, Tokyo Metropolitan University researchers say.

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have shown through simulations that a compact X-ray telescope weighing less than 10 kilograms could produce the first complete chemical map of the Moon's surface. The instrument, originally built to study Earth's magnetosphere, would capture the X-ray fluorescence emitted when strong solar flares illuminate lunar rock.

A single small telescope in lunar orbit could chart oxygen, iron, magnesium, aluminum and silicon across the entire Moon within two years, the team found. Scaling up to a 5-by-5 array of 25 telescopes would sharpen the resolution to 30-by-30 kilometers, cut mapping time for those five elements to a single year, and add a global map of sodium.

Led by Airi Toida and Prof. Yuichiro Ezoe and published in the journal Earth, Planets and Space, the concept could give scientists their first global picture of the Moon's composition — a major step toward understanding how our satellite formed and evolved.

## Sources

- [sciencedaily.com](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260606075508.htm)
- [phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-06-lunar-orbiter-concept-reveal-key.html)

---
TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/1796-lunchbox-sized-x-ray-telescope-could-deliver-the-first-full-chemical-map-of-the
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/1869-rentgenovy-dalekohled-velikosti-svacinoveho-boxu-by-mohl-vytvorit-prvni-uplnou