Is there water on the moon: Lunar Trailblazer will look for it in the shady places

NASA satellite with the size of a dishwasher was launched into space from Florida on Wednesday to search for water, a valuable resource for lunar missions, in places like the constantly shaded craters of the lunar poles.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket flew away from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, carrying NASA Lunar Trailblazer's orbital apparatus. It was built by the space unit of Lockheed Martin.

The satellite is a secondary payload aboard the rocket, with the main payload being a mission of a lunar launch apparatus, led by Intuitive Machines.

Benefits

The lunar surface is often considered dry, but previous studies have found the presence of some water even in warmer, sun-lit places. It has long been believed that there may be significant amounts of water ice in cold and constantly overshadowed places on the lunar poles.

Lunar Trailblazer, which weighs about 200 kg and is about 3.5 meters wide, when its solar panels are fully unfolded, is sent to find and map this water on the surface of the moon.

For a future study of the moon, including potential long -term lunar bases served by astronauts, moon water would be vital as it can be processed not only as drinking stocks, but also in oxygen and hydrogen fuel for rockets.

The bottoms of hundreds of craters on the south pole of the moon, for example, are constantly shaded and may contain ice spots. Part of the water can also be locked in rocks and dust on the moon's surface.

Mission

Lunar Trailblazer is planned to perform a series of flying around the moon and circular orbits for a period of several months to position it to map the surface in detail. It will go around a height of about 100 km and collect high-resolution images of target zones to determine the shape, distribution and abundance of water and to better understand the lunar water cycle.

Reuters

« We see small amounts of water in the sun -lit parts of the moon, which is mysterious, » says Betani Elman. She is the main researcher of the Mission and Director of the Kack Space Research Institute.

But Elman adds: « The most interesting (aspect) for many are the potentially large amounts of ice in the constantly overshadowed regions of the lunar poles. Lunar Trailblazer will peek inside to see how much on the surface. »

Measurements

Two Lunar Trailblazer tools will make orbit measurements together. Lunar Thermal Mapper, or LTM, will map and measure the temperature of the lunar surface. The high -resolution lunar cartographer Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper, or HVM3, will look at the surface of the moon for a protruding model of light emitted by water.

Moon water is thought to come from several potential sources. One possibility is that the solar wind – charged particles from the sun, can react with lunar minerals to create water. Another source may be comets or meteorites that may have supplied water to the moon for billions of years. The right amount of moon water remains unclear, but potentially hundreds of millions of tones.

« Moon water is also very interesting from a scientific point of view. The moon goes near the earth almost from the very formation of the Earth. So understanding the origin of lunar water can help us understand the origin of the water on Earth, » says Warren.