Why do we care about water on the Moon?
The high volume of water ice on the Moon has attracted the attention of space agencies and private companies around the world. They envision mining the water ice to produce air, drinking water, and propellant, fueling the needs of lunar habitats and even entire lunar industries in the future.
For scientists, the water ice and other chemicals in the PSRs offer a pristine record of cometary and asteroid bombardment from the solar system’s early days. By studying the water, we can learn more about the origin of the Earth and Moon, and by extension how life arose on Earth. Realizing the high value of these PSRs, NASA has designated them as sensitive locations subject to strict contamination protections.
How can we explore the Moon’s water ice directly?
Exploring the PSRs firsthand is no small challenge. The first hurdle is developing an ability to land with precision. Whereas regions near the Moon’s equator have large expanses of flat terrain, the polar regions are often rocky and sloped.
The lunar poles also require spacecraft that can survive very cold temperatures. While PSRs are extremely cold, their sunlit crater rims don’t get very much direct sunlight, keeping them cooled to an average of about -50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit).
Another challenge is power and communication. A rover venturing into a PSR will lose its line-of-sight with Earth, disabling communications, while the lack of sunlight means it will have to pack powerful batteries or rely on nuclear power. One possible solution is building communications relay stations on crater rims that could also reflect sunlight to probes inside.
from The Planetary Society Articles https://ift.tt/35SZqgC
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