The Moon

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Massive Heat-Emitting Mass Discovered Buried Under The Surface Of The Moon
by Dr Alfredo Carpineti, PhD.
July 7, 2023

Introduction:

(IFL Science) A large mass of granite that has been slowly releasing heat has been discovered buried underneath a crater on the Moon. This is not science fiction, it's ancient volcanism. The Moon used to have lava fields and eruptions, but astronomers had never actually found a more traditional Earth-like volcano – until they looked at what was beneath the Compton and Belkovich craters on the far side of the Moon.

Granite is not very common outside of Earth so finding it on the Moon is very exciting. On our planet, it forms deep beneath the surface, usually under a volcano where magma can cool down and crystalize. To make granite, having water and plate tectonics helps a lot. The team used a combination of data from Chinese and American lunar orbiters to discover this heat-emitting mass below the surface, identifying a volcanic process never before seen on the Moon.

“Using an instrument looking at microwave wavelengths – longer than infrared – sent to the Moon on both the Chinese Chang'E 1 and 2 orbiters, we have been able to map temperatures below the surface. What we found was that one of these suspected volcanoes, known as Compton-Belkovich, was absolutely glowing at microwave wavelengths,” co-lead researcher Dr Matt Siegler, of the Planetary Science Institute, said in a statement.

“What this means is that it is hot, not necessarily at the surface, as you would see in infrared, but under the surface. The only way to explain this is from extra heat coming from somewhere below the feature within the deeper lunar crust. So Compton-Belkovich, thought to be a volcano, is also hiding a large heat source below it.”

The data shows a 20-kilometer (12-mile) wide silicon-rich surface feature that they believe is the caldera of this ancient volcano. The temperature there is 10°C (18°F) warmer than its surroundings, but it's not from magma under the surface – the last time, the volcano erupted was 3.5 billion years ago – it's from radioactive elements that were stuck in the rocks.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/massive-hea ... oon-69719

[wjfox]

Hard to imagine the scale of these impacts in the past.

And the frequency, too. Whereas today, a large asteroid may strike every 10 to 100 million years, they would have been arriving perhaps every few decades back in the Late Heavy Bombardment period. And smaller (but still significant) impacts might have occurred yearly or even monthly.

[Time_Traveller]

New analysis of old Apollo data finds 'moonquake' source

Sep 08, 2023

A new analysis of seismic activity on the Moon used machine learning to re-analyze archival data of "moonquakes" collected during the Apollo era, a press statement reveals.

Specifically, the new study applied these techniques to old moonquake data from the Apollo 17 mission.

It found that previous analyses had mischaracterized a surprising source of vibrations — the Apollo 17 lunar lander base.

https://interestingengineering.com/scie ... ake-source

[weatheriscool]

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China Is Putting Serious Thought Into Building Bases in Moon Caves
by Evan Gough
September 28, 2023

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Caves were some of humanity's first shelters. Who knows what our distant ancestors were thinking as they sought refuge there, huddling and cooking meat over a fire, maybe drawing animals on the walls.

Caves protected our ancient ancestors from the elements, and from predators and rivals, back when sticks, stones, furs and fire were our only technologies.

So there's a poetic parallel between early humans and us. We're visiting the Moon again, and lunar caves could shelter us the way caves sheltered our ancestors on Earth.

On the Moon, astronauts will need protection from a different set of hazards. They'll have to contend with cosmic and solar radiation, meteorites, wild temperature swings, and even impact ejecta.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has found hundreds of lunar 'skylights,' locations where a lava tube's ceiling has collapsed, making a natural opening into the tube.

The remaining part of the article discusses China’s apparent interest in exploring and even implementing this idea.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/china-is- ... n-caves

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New Findings in Lunar Soil Samples Suggest Moon Water Could Fuel Future Space Exploration
by Sarwat Nasir
November 23, 2023
Introduction:

(The National) Scientists working on lunar soil samples brought back from an Apollo mission have discovered the presence of hydrogen, suggesting that water found on the Moon could be used to make rocket fuel.

The detection of hydrogen adds on to previous studies which have shown that water was possibly trapped in glass beads spread across the lunar surface.

Its discovery could be a crucial resource for astronauts who set up base on the Moon because rocket fuel can be made with water via electrolysis, where you split hydrogen with oxygen.

The latest study was carried out by the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and findings were published in science journal Nature on November 15.

“Hydrogen has the potential to be a resource that can be used directly on the lunar surface when there are more regular or permanent installations there,” said Dr Katherine D Burgess, a geologist in NRL’s materials science and technology division.

Read more here: https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/ ... apollo/

[firestar464]

Phys article on this:

https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hydrogen- ... ility.html

[caltrek]

The Moon is Shrinking, Causing Landslides and Instability in Lunar South Pole
January 25, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Earth’s moon shrank more than 150 feet in circumference as its core gradually cooled over the last few hundred million years. In much the same way a grape wrinkles when it shrinks down to a raisin, the moon also develops creases as it shrinks. But unlike the flexible skin on a grape, the moon’s surface is brittle, causing faults to form where sections of crust push against one another.

A team of scientists discovered evidence that this continuing shrinkage of the moon led to notable surface warping in its south polar region—including areas that NASA proposed for crewed Artemis III landings. Because fault formation caused by the moon’s shrinking is often accompanied by seismic activity like moonquakes, locations near or within such fault zones could pose dangers to future human exploration efforts.

In a new paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, the team linked a group of faults located in the moon’s south polar region to one of the most powerful moonquakes recorded by Apollo seismometers over 50 years ago. Using models to simulate the stability of surface slopes in the region, the team found that some areas were particularly vulnerable to landslides from seismic shaking.

“Our modeling suggests that shallow moonquakes capable of producing strong ground shaking in the south polar region are possible from slip events on existing faults or the formation of new thrust faults,” said the study’s lead author Thomas R. Watters, a senior scientist emeritus in the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies. “The global distribution of young thrust faults, their potential to be active and the potential to form new thrust faults from ongoing global contraction should be considered when planning the location and stability of permanent outposts on the moon.”

Read more of the Science Alert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1032347

For a technical presentation of the study results as published in The Planetary Science Journal : https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad1332

[firestar464]

Korean researchers create an electrostatic environment that simulates the moon's surface

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-korean-el ... -moon.html

[Time_Traveller]

Scientists call for protection of moon sites that could advance astronomy

Mon 25 Mar 2024 00.01 GMT

Astronomers are calling for the urgent protection of sites on the moon that are rated the best spots in the solar system for advanced instruments designed to unveil the secrets of the universe.

The prime locations are free from ground vibration, shielded from Earth’s noisy broadcast signals or profoundly cold – making them uniquely well-suited for sensitive equipment that could make observations impossible from elsewhere.

But the pristine spots, known as sites of extraordinary scientific importance (Sesis), are in danger of being ruined by an imminent wave of missions such as lunar navigation and communications satellites, rovers and mining operations, with experts warning on Monday that safeguarding the precious sites was an “urgent matter”.

“This is the first time humanity has to decide how we will expand into the solar system,” said Dr Martin Elvis, an astronomer at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts. “We’re in danger of losing one-of-a-kind opportunities to understand the universe.”

At least 22 international missions are expected to touch down on the moon by late 2026, with half heading to sites near the lunar south pole. More will follow, including commercial and civil landers, while two moon bases, one US, the other Chinse and Russian, are expected to be operational in the 2030s.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... telescopes

[Time_Traveller]

White House wants Moon to have its own time zone

4 hours ago

The White House wants US space agency Nasa to develop a new time zone for the Moon - Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).

Because of the different gravitational field strength on the Moon, time moves quicker there relative to Earth - 58.7 microseconds every day.

This might not seem like much, but it can have a significant impact when trying to synchronise spacecraft.

The US government hopes the new time will help keep national and private efforts to reach the moon co-ordinated.

Prof Catherine Heymans, Scotland's Astronomer Royal, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "This fundamental theory of gravity in our Universe has an important consequence that time runs differently in different places in the Universe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68722032

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

A NASA photographer captured this timelapse photo of the eclipse over the Washington Monument.
NASA

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Here's the AP article:

https://apnews.com/article/moon-caves-n ... 259e8668ba

[Time_Traveller]

Scientists propose lunar biorepository as ‘backup’ for life on Earth

Wed 31 Jul 2024 14.00 BST



With thousands of species at risk of extinction, scientists have devised a radical plan: a vault filled with preserved samples of our planet’s most important and at-risk creatures located on the moon.

An international team of experts says threats from climate change and habitat loss have outpaced our ability to protect species in their natural habitats, necessitating urgent action. A biorepository of preserved cells, and the crucial DNA within them, could be used to enhance genetic diversity in small populations of critically endangered species, or to clone and create new individuals in the worst-case scenario of extinction.

A repository to safeguard biological samples from disaster is not a new idea. The Svalbard global seed vault on a remote Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle provides frozen storage of seeds to ensure important food crops can be re-established if wiped out by disease or drought. Recent flooding as a result of warm temperatures, however, has proven that not even Svalbard is safe from the effects of climate breakdown.

“If there had not been people there, flooding could have damaged the biorepository,” said the proposal’s lead author, Dr Mary Hagedorn of the Smithsonian’s national zoo and conservation biology institute. War also poses a threat to biorepositories on Earth, she noted, citing the destruction of Ukraine’s seed bank in 2022. “So all in all, the idea of having a really secure, passive biorepository for safeguarding Earth’s biodiversity seems like a really good idea.”

The proposed lunar biorepository, as described in the journal BioScience, would be beyond the reach of climate breakdown, geopolitical events or other Earth-based disasters. The moon’s naturally frigid environment means samples would remain frozen year-round without the need for human involvement or an energy source. By taking advantage of deep craters near the polar regions that are never exposed to sunlight, the moon is one of few places that can provide the ultra-low temperature of -196C necessary to preserve the samples in a way suitable for future cloning.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... e-on-earth

[Time_Traveller]

Astronauts on ISS practice moon base cement-mixing tech in microgravity

published August 15, 2024



While astronauts aren't back on the moon yet, they're already getting ready for construction.

An International Space Station experiment aims to mix and match ingredients for moon construction, as NASA aims to land astronauts there as soon as 2026 under its Artemis program.

The astronaut landing mission Artemis 3, and its immediate successors, will use temporary base, but the goal of NASA's Artemis Accords is to build a permanent base. But making new buildings on the moon is complicated, which is why astronauts are testing cement-mixing techniques on the ISS before flying there.

"NASA and its international partners are studying ways to make it economical to construct satellites in space, as well as build crew habitats on the moon," agency officials wrote in a statement Monday (Aug. 12).

To reduce the cost of sending materials to the moon from Earth, one option could be "using the microgravity environment to mix lunar soil with other materials to make cement and build habitable structures on the moon," the statement added.

https://www.space.com/iss-astronaut-moo ... crogravity

[firestar464]

It's Official: Scientists Have Confirmed What's Inside The Moon

https://www.sciencealert.com/its-offici ... e-the-moon

[caltrek]

Establishing a Permanent Lunar Presence
January 22, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) NASA’s Artemis program goal of establishing a human presence on the Earth’s moon is closer than ever to becoming a reality within the next few decades. But today’s starry-eyed dreamers are reckoning with the gritty reality of building a permanent base on an airless, dusty, radiation-blasted rock thousands of miles from home. How hard can it be?

The answer, obviously, is very. But with a lot of planning and innovation, it does not appear impossible.

In a new, comprehensive review paper led by Concordia researchers published in the journal Progress in Aerospace Science, the authors break down the many very serious challenges of lunar-based manufacturing and construction essential for establishing a sustainable, long-term lunar presence. But they also provide solutions that can overcome them.

“A crucial step is to be able to manufacture whatever is needed on site,” says Mohammad Azami, a PhD candidate at Concordia University’s Aerospace Robotics Lab (CUARL). “We must establish the infrastructure needed to produce the essential tools, structures and systems for habitation on the moon.”

The researchers say that this will require close use of three critical technologies: 3D printing, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071333

[caltrek]

New Study Indicates Moon is Not as “Geologically Dead” as Previously Thought
January 28, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Scientists have studied the moon’s surface for decades to help piece together its complex geological and evolutionary history. Evidence from the lunar maria (dark, flat areas on the moon filled with solidified lava) suggested that the moon experienced significant compression in its distant past. Researchers suspected that large, arching ridges on the moon’s near side were formed by contractions that occurred billions of years ago—concluding that the moon’s maria has remained dormant ever since.

However, a new study reveals that what lies beneath the lunar surface may be more dynamic than previously believed. Two Smithsonian Institution scientists and a University of Maryland geologist discovered that small ridges located on the moon’s far side were notably younger than previously studied ridges on the near side. Their findings were published in The Planetary Science Journal on January 21, 2025.

“Many scientists believe that most of the moon’s geological movements happened two and a half, maybe three billion years ago,” said Jaclyn Clark, an assistant research scientist in UMD’s Department of Geology. “But we're seeing that these tectonic landforms have been recently active in the last billion years and may still be active today. These small mare ridges seem to have formed within the last 200 million years or so, which is relatively recent considering the moon’s timescale.”

Using advanced mapping and modeling techniques, the team found 266 previously unknown small ridges on the moon’s far side. The ridges typically appeared in groups of 10 to 40 in volcanic regions that likely formed 3.2 to 3.6 billion years ago in narrow areas where there may be underlying weaknesses in the moon’s surface, according to the researchers. To estimate the age of these small ridges, the researchers used a technique called crater counting. They found that the ridges were notably younger than other features in their surroundings.

“Essentially, the more craters a surface has, the older it is; the surface has more time to accumulate more craters,” Clark explained. “After counting the craters around these small ridges and seeing that some of the ridges cut through existing impact craters, we believe these landforms were tectonically active in the last 160 million years.”

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071951

Read The Planetary Science Journal article on this topic here:https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad9eaa