An Australian-built rover is headed to the Moon! Credit: AROSE artists impression
Greetings, Earthlings. Gail Lexy here, getting ready for lunar living!
When astronomers first looked at the Moon through telescopes, they thought they were seeing great oceans. They gave the Moon’s big, dark patches names such as Oceanus Procellarum, and the Sea of Tranquillity. Now we know that these ‘seas’ are ancient lava flows, and that the Moon’s surface is very dry. It’s also airless.
“Water is a key resource for future space exploration,” says astrophysicist Brad Tucker, from the Australian National University.
Luckily, the Moon does have some water, in very different forms. Ice can be found at its poles, where sunlight doesn’t reach. Molecules of water are spread very thinly across the Moon’s surface. And water is also trapped in tiny glass beads that form when meteoroids hit the Moon.
The problem is getting to these water sources and extracting it. A first step is mapping the Moon’s water. NASA’s lunar rover VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) plans to explore the Moon’s south pole in search of ice, finding where it’s easiest to access.
What will harvesting Moon water mean for humans in space? Obviously, humans need drinking water, and edible plants grown at a future Moon base will need water too. Water can also be split into hydrogen and oxygen in a process called electrolysis. These products can be used to make rocket fuel and – something all humans need – breathable air.
Oxygen is also thought to be lurking in the regolith (loose dust and rock) on the Moon’s surface.
An Australian-built rover will be going to the Moon to help NASA’s oxygen search. AROSE, short for Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth, is one of the groups working on a design.
“The rover’s job will be to collect a regolith sample and drive it to a nearby machine to have its oxygen extracted,” says Sarah Cannard. Sarah is Chief Systems Engineer with Nova Systems, which is part of the AROSE group.
Imagine that, Earthlings. Drinkable water and breathable air on the dry, airless Moon. That will be a big leap for hu-moon kind!
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Australia’s lunar rover will be called Roo-ver. The name won a nationwide competition!
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