The traps likely contain solid carbon dioxide that could be used to sustain robot or human presence on the moon
From:
American Geophysical Union
November 15, 2021 -- After decades of
uncertainty, researchers have confirmed the existence of lunar carbon dioxide
cold traps that could potentially contain solid carbon dioxide. The discovery
will likely have a major influence in shaping future lunar missions and could
impact the feasibility of a sustained robot or human presence on the moon.
In the permanently shadowed regions at
the poles of our moon, temperatures dip below those in the coldest areas of
Pluto, allowing for carbon dioxide cold traps. In these cold traps, carbon
dioxide molecules could freeze and remain in solid form even during peak
temperatures in the lunar summer.
Future human or robot explorers could
use the solid carbon dioxide in these cold traps to produce fuel or materials
for longer lunar stays. The carbon dioxide and other potential volatile
organics could also help scientists better understand the origin of water and
other molecules on the moon.
Although cold traps have been predicted
by planetary scientists for years, this new study is the first to firmly
establish and map the presence of carbon dioxide cold traps. To find the
coldest spots on the moon's surface, researchers analyzed 11 years of temperature
data from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, an instrument flying aboard
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The new research, published in the AGU
journal Geophysical Research Letters, which publishes high-impact,
short-format reports with immediate implications spanning all Earth and space
sciences, shows that these cold traps include several pockets concentrated
around the lunar southern pole. The total area of these carbon dioxide traps
totals 204 square kilometers, with the largest area in the Amundsen Crater
hosting 82 square kilometers of traps. In these areas, temperatures continually
remain below 60 degrees Kelvin (about minus 352 degrees Fahrenheit.)
The existence of carbon dioxide cold
traps does not guarantee the existence of solid carbon dioxide on the moon, but
this verification does make it highly likely that future missions could find
carbon dioxide ice there, according to the researchers.
"I think when I started this, the
question was, 'Can we confidently say there are carbon dioxide cold traps on
the moon or not?'" said Norbert Schörghofer, a planetary scientist at the
Planetary Science Institute and lead author on the study. "My surprise was
that they're actually, definitely there. It could have been that we can't establish
their existence, [they might have been] one pixel on a map... so I think the
surprise was that we really found contiguous regions which are cold enough,
beyond doubt."
Managing the moon
The existence of carbon dioxide traps on
the moon will likely have implications for the planning of future lunar
exploration and international policy regarding the resource.
If there is indeed solid carbon dioxide
in these cold traps, it could potentially be used in a variety of ways. Future
space explorers could use the resource in the production of steel as well as
rocket fuel and biomaterials, which would both be essential for sustained robot
or human presence on the moon. This potential has already attracted interest
from governments and private companies.
Scientists could also study lunar carbon
to understand how organic compounds form and what kind of molecules can be
naturally produced in these harsh environments.
The carbon dioxide cold traps could also
help scientists answer long-standing questions about the origins of water and
other volatiles in the Earth-moon system, according to Paul Hayne, a planetary
scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who was not involved in the
study.
Carbon dioxide could be a tracer for the
sources of water and other volatiles on the lunar surface, helping scientists
to understand how they arrived on the moon and on Earth.
"These should be high-priority
sites to target for future landed missions," Hayne said. "This sort
of pinpoints where you might go on the lunar surface to answer some of these
big questions about volatiles on the moon and their delivery from elsewhere in
the solar system."
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211115151010.htm
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