Lunar News Network

Water on the Moon!

What an amazing week this was for lunar news, the headlines screamed: Water on the Moon!! Ok, no, they didn't. I know that reporters really wanted to use that headline, it's catchy, after all, but their editors had to pull them back into more restrained (or worse) headlines, like this one from the AP: It's not lunacy, probes find water in moon dirt. This is a perfect example of how the mainstream news media is challenged by science reporting. They want the short sensational headline and more often than not, science does not fit the required format. Yes, water has been discovered on the Moon. No, it's not pools of standing water, it's not even chunks of ice. The story required a bit of background, some science facts, some explanation, maybe lots of explanation, all before you get to the punch line: this is very good news for the human development of lunar bases. But even there, once we get to that point in the story, we have to provide the usual scientific disclaimer: more study is needed. We don't know how much water is on the moon, exactly where it is, or how concentrated or dispersed it is, and the answers to those questions will take more time, more study, and hopefully some hand-on investigation. So even if we didn't get Water on the Moon!! as a headline, we did get the following:

• MSNBC - Back to the lunar future?
• MSNBC - Moon water findings are a game-changer
• MSNBC - Prospect of moon ice spurs excitement
• New York Times - In Surprise, Moon Shows Signs of Water
  
• Time - Water on the Moon Buoys India's Space Program
• ABC News - Big Splash: How Water on the Moon Was Found
• Space - Moon Water: A Game-Changing Discovery
  

Photo Credit: ABC News

Oxygen from Moon Dust

Happy New Year everyone! I had a nice extended break and now I'm back to what appears to be a very busy time. I anticipate light (lite, actually, but that isn't a word according to spellcheck) blogging for some time until the pace of work and life slows down a bit). I did want to note this interesting report on the Space.com site about How Moon Dust Could Yield Oxygen, Fuel and Water :

Recently, a team of scientists working for the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) demonstrated its first field test for NASA's In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Project. Research Operations Manager John Hamilton supported the mission simulation to show how astronauts will be able to prospect for resources on the moon to make their own oxygen, fuel and water from lunar rocks and soil. A key motivation of these experiments is the fact that almost half the moon, by weight, is made of oxygen. [...] NASA's lunar exploration plan says that on-site lunar resources could generate about one to two metric tons of oxygen per year, enough to support four to six people annually. Since it takes about 100 kilograms (kg) of soil to get 1 kg of oxygen, team leaders are looking at electrostatic and magnetic separation techniques to possibly concentrate the soil and increase the production rate.

I like these kinds of reports because they point to the viability of a lunar colony. Research continues and the methods of extracting oxygen will be refined, so the future of this plan looks very promising.

Water On The Moon

Here's a development that is sure to boost the plan to return to the Moon (Wired News - Water Found on the Moon):

In a study published today in Nature, researchers led by Brown University geologist Alberto Saal found evidence of water molecules in pebbles retrieved by NASA's Apollo missions. The findings point to the existence of water deep beneath the moon's surface, transforming scientific understanding of our nearest neighbor's formation and, perhaps, our own. There may also be a more immediately practical application. "Is there water there? That's important for lunar missions. People could get the water. They could use the hydrogen for energy," said Saal.

The article goes on to note that upcoming missions (the Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, which will scour the moon's south pole later this year, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, scheduled for launch in 2009) will help determine where the water may be, and in what quantities, and this should tell us if the water can be used by future lunar colonists.

Dealing With Moondust

That pesky moondust problem is getting some much needed attention (Space - Tackling Moondust for Future Lunar Living ):

Astronauts living on a permanent moon base will need protection against the bleak world's asbestos-like dust, not to mention shielding from radiation and a plan to ward off psychological demons. Those challenges weigh on NASA's plans to send humans back to the moon before the end of the next decade, when four-astronaut crews would have to learn how to live on the lunar surface in a space the size of a small mobile home.

Gravity Pills?

The Colony Worlds blog notes advances in treating the physiological effects of low-gravity environments (New Drug May Help Counter Muscle Loss From Micro Gravity). This is important, since prolonged exposure to low-gravity environments has a detrimental effect on bones and muscles and will therefore be a medical issue for the lunar colonists, as they will have to acclimate to 1/6 of Earth's gravity.

Moon Smashing

Some necessary prep work will soon be done for the lunar program (Space.com - NASA Takes Aim at Moon with Double Sledgehammer):

NASA's previous Lunar Prospector mission detected large amounts of hydrogen at the moon's poles before crashing itself into a crater at the lunar South Pole. Now the much larger Lunar Crater and Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, set for a February 2009 moon crash, will take aim and discover whether some of that hydrogen is locked away in the form of frozen water.

Why is this important? Well, we can use the hydrogen and oxygen in the frozen water for fuel, it's a sort of "live off the land" approach that will be vital to really getting the next stage of lunar exploration and settlement going.

Space Settlement Art

Here is some very cool space art accepted by the NSS Space Settlement Calendar Committee as entries in the NSS Space Settlement 2009 Calendar Art Contest. My favorite: Moonbase One

Radiation Threat to Colonists

The results of a new study indicate that solar and cosmic radiation will be a threat to the health and wellbeing of lunar colonists (Daily Galaxy - Will Radiation Zap Astronaut’s Brains in Deep Space?):

Using a mouse model designed to reveal even slight changes in brain cell populations, scientists found radiation appeared to target a particular type of stem cell in an area of the brain believed to be important for learning and mood control. These findings from a team of researchers from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the McKnight Brain Institute of the University of Florida, suggest that identifying medications or physical shielding to protect astronauts from cosmic and solar radiation is necessary for the success of all human space missions beyond low Earth orbit.

Perhaps it's time to think of building lunar habitats below ground?

Just Say No?

SF writer Charlie Stross trashes the whole exploration/colonization project (Charlie's Diary - The High Frontier, Redux). How would you reply to him? HT: Sentient Developments

Lunar Med Tech

Imagine a future lunar explorer falls into a crater and breaks a leg (but not the spacesuit), colleagues quickly transport her back to the habitat where a prefab modular medical bay complete with a robot surgeon is standing by (Longview Daily News - NASA to test robot surgeon):

All the portable parts of this device weigh about 50 pounds and can be transported and reconstructed by non-engineers at remote sites. Robot surgeons currently being used in hospitals weigh several thousand pounds, are not portable and can't be easily broken down and reconstructed.

Lunar Habitats

When our intrepid explorers finally reach the Moon again and set up an encampment, where will they live? NASA has plans to build inflatable structures to house our first lunar colonists (Space.com - NASA Tests Inflatable Lunar Shelters): 

The inflatable structure is made of multilayer fabric and looks like an ungainly white robot with legs. The main unit is 12 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall. It has a volume of about 1,600 cubic feet and is connected to an airlock, also inflatable. The two spaces are essentially pressurized cylinders, connected by an airtight door.

I wonder how well that kind of structure will do in shielding them from solar radiation? That is one of the great dangers the colonists will face.

Lunar Supply Chain

Space.com takes a look at some of the logistical problems inherent in lunar exploration and settlement (Packing for the Moon: New Software Aims to Track Supplies):

If an outhouse on the Moon ran out of toilet paper, an intrepid settler might have to waddle about 240,000 miles to get a fresh roll back on Earth. To make sure that doesn't happen, scientists have developed a software tool that tracks and ensures a reliable stream of necessities from the Earth to the Moon.

Lunar Observatories

Hosting an observatory is but one of the many possible missions for a lunar base. Space.com reports (Lunar Observatories: Grand Plans vs. Clear Problems) that, "Astronomers are split over the merits of lunar-based observatories compared with those in free space like the Hubble Space Telescope."

Lunar Plans

NASA is reintroducing the public to the lunar phase of the Vision for Space Exploration (Seattle Post Intelligencer - NASA Says It Will Set Up Polar Moon Camp):

NASA may be going to the same old moon with a ship that looks a lot like a 1960s Apollo capsule, but the space agency said Monday that it's going to do something dramatically different this time: Stay there. Unveiling the agency's bold plan for a return to the moon, NASA said it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts land there.

Moon Dust

Space.com reports on how NASA mission planners are attempting to deal with moon dust, a serious threat to man and machine (Lunar Explorers Face Moon Dust Dilemma).