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Of: Paulino Betancourt
When NASA announced last week that it had made an “exciting new discovery” about the moon and then told us that the information would be classified for five days – yes, five days! It was a cruel and unbearable wait, but Monday finally came the epilogue of the story. NASA has announced what can be summed up as: She (the Moon) is wet (covered with water).
Scientists have collected some of the most compelling evidence for the existence of water on the Moon. The surface was long considered dry until a Soviet probe collected the water in 1978, but that research was published in a Russian magazine unknown to the Western world. It was the 1990s when an orbiting spacecraft found traces of ice in large inaccessible craters near the lunar poles. But it was at the beginning of the 21st century when an image of the Moon tinged with water began to emerge. Careful studies of lunar samples and spacecraft observations have helped change the notion of the lunar desert. In 2009, teams aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft recorded data consistent with the presence of water-like molecules. Technical limitations made it impossible to know if it was H.2O (water) or hydroxyl molecules (consisting of an oxygen atom and a hydrogen atom) in minerals. And in 2018, scientists found ice deposits at the lunar poles. Now, they have detected a chemical chemical fingerprint that is unequivocally from H.2Or, by measuring the wavelengths of sunlight reflecting off the Moon’s surface. This work was published in the journal Nature Astronomy. The data was collected by the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), which is housed in a modified Boeing 747 and carries a 2.7-meter reflective telescope.
The surface was long considered dry until a Soviet probe collected the water in 1978, but that research was published in a Russian magazine unknown to the Western world. It was the 1990s when an orbiting spacecraft found traces of ice in large inaccessible craters near the lunar poles.
Paulino Betancourt
As mentioned, while the moon was once believed to be dry as a desert, scientists have found evidence of H.2O and ice on the surface of the Moon, limited to the coldest and darkest regions. It was believed that sunlit areas might not be able to hold water. Without a thick atmosphere to isolate it from the sun’s rays, the water on the lunar surface would have to evaporate and disperse into space.
Lo and behold, the moon has shown that it can retain moisture in other places, even in its sunniest regions, whether held in the moons of moon dust or inside “glass beads”. Water was discovered towards the south pole of the Moon, in the Clavius crater (the size of the State of Anzoátegui), in quantities from 100 to 400 parts per million of H2O. The extraction will be simple if water exists mainly on the surface of the dust grains: only the lunar soil will have to be collected and subjected to moderate heating. However, if water is enclosed in the glass, the material must be melted for collection, a process that requires much more energy.
The existence of water has implications for future lunar missions because it could be treated and used for drinking, separated into hydrogen, to be used as rocket fuel and oxygen for breathing. However, collecting it in dark craters with steep walls at temperatures as low as -230 ° C, where most of the ice water is supposed to be, would be a dangerous job. If it turns out that there is water in the illuminated areas, then these areas may be more numerous and accessible than previously thought.
The existence of water has implications for future lunar missions because it could be treated and used for drinking, separated into hydrogen, to be used as rocket fuel and oxygen for breathing.
Paulino Betancourt
However, the questions remain. The only real way to answer is to go to the moon and start drilling. This may not be far off. The Artemis mission, named after Apollo’s mythological sister, plans to send a woman (the first) and a man to the lunar surface in 2024. It has a long-term goal of establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon by the end of the decade. In fact, they are already working to install 4G LTE on the Moon. Finnish company Nokia will build the technology that will be integrated into NASA’s lunar landers and used for remote control as well as for streaming high-definition video. NASA also announced in June that it has entered into a contract with a private company to deploy a vehicle, called the VIPER, to the moon’s south pole in 2023, which it will drill for water beneath the surface. On the other hand, British scientists are also developing a robotic drill to sample lunar soil at depths of up to one meter, as part of a Russian mission scheduled for 2025. But where should they dig? Permanent shaded areas would still be the best option because the water would be better protected from the sun’s rays.
What if we had many countries trying to get water in the same area? In early October this year, eight countries signed the Artemis Accords, a series of international treaties drawn up by the United States that govern future exploration of the Moon and the exploitation of its resources for commercial purposes. The agreements combine existing rules of conduct, such as recognizing that exploration of the Moon must be carried out for peaceful purposes, maintaining transparency in operations, providing mutual aid in the event of an emergency and, most importantly, continuing the exchange of scientific data. More signatories are expected, although China cannot sign at this time due to trade disputes and sanctions from the United States of America. Ultimately, the ability to extract and use water on the Moon will be critical to supporting safe and sustainable space exploration.
PAULINO BETANCOURT | @p_betanco
Researcher, professor at the Central University of Venezuela, member of the National Academy of Engineering and Habitat
The Pitazo is not responsible for or endorses the views expressed in this article.
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