A NASA satellite in dishwasher size was brought to space by Florida on Wednesday to identify places on the moon surface where water exists-
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was withdrawn by the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, in which the Lunar TrailBlazer -biter built by Lockheed Martin’s Space Division was worn by the NASA -LUNAR -TrailBlazer -biter. The satellite was a secondary payload on board the rocket, with the primary Lunar -Lander named Athena being intuitive machines for a mission from the American Space Exploration Company.
The surface of the moon is often considered dry, but earlier measurements have found the presence of some water even in warmer, sun -light places. Scientists have long set up the hypothesis that there could be considerable amounts of water in the form of ice in cold and permanently shaded areas on the moon pole.
For example, the subduments of hundreds of craters at the south pole of the moon are permanently shaded and can contain ice stains. A little water can also be locked in broken rock and dust on the moon surface.
The Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about £ 440 and is about 3.5 meters wide, when its solar collectors are fully inserted, is sent to find and map this water on the moon surface.
For future lunar examinations, including potential long -term lunar bases that are occupied by astronauts, moon water would be crucial, since it could not only be processed for drinking, but also to breathable oxygen and hydrogen for rockets.
Satellite to the circulation moon to map the surface
The Lunar Trailblazer is to carry out a number of flybies and looping circulation for several months in order to position themselves in such a way that they represent the surface in detail. After all, it is collected at a height of around 100 km and high -resolution images of targeted areas to determine the shape, distribution and abundance of water and better understand the moon water cycle.
“We see tiny quantities of water on sun-lit parts of the moon, which is mysterious,” said planetary scientist Bethany Ehlmann, the main researcher of the mission and director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies from CalTech.
However, Ehlmann added: “The most interesting (aspect) for many are the potentially large amounts of ice in the permanently shaded regions of the moon poles. The moon traffic path will look inside to see how much is on the surface.”
Such locations could serve as a resource for moon researchers in the future.
“Understand where a rover would drive or an astronaut would go to examine deposits for science, and future use of resources will benefit all future country missions,” said Ehlmann.
Two Lunar Trailblazer instruments will jointly take measurements from the orbit. The moon -thermal mapper or LTM will map and measure the moon surface temperature. The high-resolution fleeting and mineral moon mappers (HVM3) examine the surface of the lunar to condemn a light pattern cast by water.
“We believe that the movement of water onto the moon is probably driven by the surface temperature. By measuring the existence and the amount of water via the HVM3 instrument and the surface temperature via the LTM instrument, we can better understand this relationship,” said the planetarist Tristram Warren of the University of Oxford, which has worked on the development of the LTM instrument.
Lunar Water will come from several potential sources. One possibility is that sun wind – charged particles from the sun – could react with moon minerals to create water. Another source could be a comet or meteorites that have delivered water to the moon for over billions.
The exact amount of moon water remains uncertain, but NASA estimates that it may be hundreds of millions of tons.
“Apart from human exploration, moon water is also scientifically very exciting,” said Warren.
“The moon has circled almost near the earth since the formation of the earth. The understanding of the origin of the moon water could help us understand the origin of water on earth.”
