Water Is Discovered on the Moon
The discovery of water on the Moon marks a significant milestone in lunar exploration and potential future human settlement. A NASA probe, Lunar Prospector, launched in January 1998, detected frozen water at both the north and south poles of the Moon, uncovering ice crystals intermingled with lunar dust and rock. This finding revives interest in manned missions to the Moon, which have been dormant since the Apollo program in the early 1970s, and opens the possibility for using the Moon as a staging point for deeper space exploration or commercial mineral exploitation. The presence of water, albeit constituting less than one percent of the lunar topsoil, could amount to hundreds of millions of tons, potentially providing essential resources for future human colonies. However, the challenge remains to develop practical methods for extracting and utilizing this water, which is still years or decades away from realization. The implications of this discovery could reshape our understanding of the Moon and its role in human endeavors beyond Earth.
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Water Is Discovered on the Moon
Water Is Discovered on the Moon
Manned space flights to the Moon have not taken place since the last Apollo missions of the early 1970s. The prospect of a return to the Moon and possible colonization greatly improved, however, when a space probe detected water on the lunar surface.
The primary reason for the hiatus in lunar exploration has been the perceived lack of value in any further expeditions. However, if the Moon, with its lower gravity, could be used as a staging point for further space missions and exploratory activities deeper into the solar system, it is possible that human beings might return. There is also the possibility of sustained commercial mineral exploitation someday. Both scenarios would require the presence of permanent human colonies on the Moon. Of the many obstacles to such a development, one of the largest is the lack of local resources sufficient to sustain human life. However, on March 5, 1998, Lunar Prospector an unmanned probe launched by the U.S. space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) detected the presence of water on the Moon.
Launched on January 6, 1998, Lunar Prospector was the successor to the Clementine probe of 1994, which had transmitted inconclusive evidence of water in the form of ice crystals on the Moon. Using a device called a neutron spectrometer, which can detect the hydrogen atoms in water molecules, on March 5 Lunar Prospector verified the presence of frozen water at the Moon's north and south poles. Around both poles ice crystals are spread over thousands of square miles, intermixed in tiny proportions among the top few feet of dust, rocks, and debris on the Moon's surface. This frozen water makes up less than one percent of this lunar topsoil, but in aggregate may amount to hundreds of millions of tons, the equivalent of a medium-sized lake at each pole. If a practical means for separating out the water from the other material could be developed, this water supply could sustain the drinking, washing, cooking, and sanitary needs of a fair-sized human community. Needless to say, such a development is decades away, at best.