William Atkins
Saturday, 19 September 2009 21:17
Science -
Space
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NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is just beginning its mission to explore the Moon. One of its instruments has already indicated that hydrogen (a component of water) is present at the south pole but in unexpected places: at warm spots that receive sunlight (and not just within the bitterly cold impact craters).
The September 17, 2009 NASA media brief “
NASA lunar satellite begins detailed mapping of Moon’s south pole”
states that the testing and calibration phase of its Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been completed and it is ready to
begin its one-year operational mission of mapping the Moon in fine
detail. (Its mission may be extended for another five years.)
NASA is especially interested in the exploration of the south pole of the Moon because it is thought that water-ice has accumulated there over its 4.5 billion years (or so) of existence.
Certain regions, such as deep impact craters, of the lunar south pole do not receive light from the Sun. Consequently, temperatures there are very cold there.
In fact, NASA states that inside these craters temperatures reach down to
“… about minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit (33 Kelvin, [or minus 240 degrees Celsius]
), more than cold enough to store water ice or hydrogen for billions of years.” [NASA]
Over these billions of years, comets (“cosmic iceballs”) have crashed into the lunar surface and deposited water-ice. NASA calls the south pole of the Moon a “cold-trap” area because of its ability to keep water-ice frozen over these many millennia.
So far, one of these seven instruments, the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND), has indicated that hydrogen is present at the south pole. With water made up of hydrogen and oxygen, this indication gives support that water-ice is present at the south pole, hopefully in abundant quantities.
NASA states,
“Additional observations will be needed to confirm this. LEND relies on a decrease in neutron radiation from the lunar surface to indicate the presence of water or hydrogen.”
What is interesting about this new information is that the hydrogen was found in areas that receive sunlight, not just in those areas that do not receive sunlight.
These areas receive sufficient sunlight to raise their temperatures to 220 degrees Fahrenheit (377 kelvin, or 104 degrees Celsius). Water is known not to exist on the surface, so it could lie underground.
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