Tuesday, 13 February 2024

Water On the Moon

Next time the Moon is waxing (The Capital D Shape) and you can see the right hand side of it take a look towards the outer edge between 1 and 2 o'clock and just up and to the right of the Mare Crisium you will see a crater called Vestine and after staring at it in wonder send me a cheque because i own that and i charge to view it.
The reason for the post about Moon Craters is that the depressions in the Moons surface is where scientists are now looking for a resource which could change everything about Space Travel, water.
NASA said that it would cost about £1m a litre of water to the surface of the moon from Earth due to the cost of the fuel needed to launch a rocket and break free of the Earth's gravity so if they can find it there then it would significantly reduce costs and they are looking at the Moon's South Pole where they expect to find water molecules in it's shadowy craters which are as cold as -230C.
After deliberately smashing a rocket into one of the craters and confirming that the plume of material thrown off the surface contained the key indicators for water, NASA are launching a rocket this week, IM-1, to the Malapert-A crater which is the furthest South humans have landed a rocket and explore the crater to see if there is water, frozen or otherwise there which as well as being essential to any eventual human inhabitants, the water molecules could be split into oxygen and hydrogen that could be used as rocket fuel.
Other plans include NASA plans to land astronauts at the south pole in 2026 as part of its Artemis missions as well as launching a space station to orbit around the Moon but it could be the start of a busy time for the Lunar south pole as India and Japan have a joint mission planned for 2026 and
China is hoping to land at the pole the same year and build a research station on the surface by 2030.
If water is found on the Moon then it could open an exciting new chapter of space exploration and if they find any water in the Vestine Crater then it's mine so keep your hands off.