Two satellites will be launched as part of a new mission to find water on the Moon’s surface
Water molecules have recently been identified on the moon, providing important resources for potential long-term duration space missions to the moon and so on. However, it is difficult to find the right location until now The spacecraft previously revealed the evidence of ice water in the moon pole in the early 2000s. The earth under this pole is always in the shade, and there is no sunlight that penetrates the area. According to scientists, crater in poles is considered to have the biggest water bag.
These areas are very cold so that water is stuck and cannot evaporate, said NASA.A new mission called Lunar Trailblazer will launch two satellites in 2025 with the aim of mapping the surface of the moon and understanding the form and distribution of water on the moon “Cold enough at the South Pole, and at the North Pole, to accommodate ice and water,” said UCF Planetary Geology Professor Kerrí Donaldson Hanna. “But we have never really made real detection. This will give us our first chance to do that.”
Donaldson Hanna is a co-investigator of the Lunar Trailblazer NASA mission consisting of two science instruments about the size of the table. They will launch the moon together and orbit the moon and collect data from the surface of the moon The first satellite is the moon thermal mapper that will map the surface temperature of the moon in the area that gets very little sunlight. This will tell scientists where the moon’s surface is cold enough to hold water in the form of ice.
The second satellite will study reflected light that comes out of the surface of the moon that can search for ice water signatures and other types of water and what makes them different.NASA wants to send humans back to the moon and build a permanent lunar science base. To do that, said Donaldson Hanna, found water in the moon very important. If future month astronauts can use resources on the surface of the moon, they don’t need to bring things like oxygen or rockets with them. “We must be able to identify available resources for astronauts for various uses, whether it is for consumption, for fuel, for building materials. All of that will help us can have humans in space for a longer period of time.” Mission The main satellite is to identify water on the surface of the moon but also has the ability to determine various rocks and minerals on the surface of the moon. “Because we will also be in the lower orbit of the month, it means we will get better spatial resolution data than we have ever had before,” he said.
One question Donaldson Hanna wants to answer is how the initial crust is formed. The current hypothesis is that it was formed through a vast sea of magma where minerals crystallized and floated up the magma ocean to form crust. “What kind of data will we get back from the trailblazer, will help answer it.
