The scientific legacy of arrival on the Moon | The …

"During the six missions, the Apollo program provided nearly 400 kilograms of rock taken from different regions of the moon, and this geological data allowed us to estimate the antiquity of the satellite and to compare it with what was on Earth, "said journalist and broadcaster Mariano Ribas. In fact, the samples collected by Apollo 11 have been distributed in many institutions around the world and a fraction of them reside in the Buenos Aires Planetarium, where this specialist acts as a local. The gift is kept in a shop window with other souvenirs, such as the Argentinian flag that was sent back from the moon during this magical July of 1969.

The register obtained, from here, confirmed the similarities with the resources of our planet and even pushed the development of new theories. "The Moon is the result of the collision between Earth – in full formation, more than 4 billion years ago – and an object of similar size to Mars. the most validated hypothesis, would be the rest which would remain after the collision and which would finally take the form of a sphere ", explains Diego Bagú, astronomer and director of the Planetarium of the National University of La Plata.

Beyond the rocks and their examination, the satellite moved cosmic ray meters, a seismograph and lunar retroreflectors. There are still three of them: the first was left by Apollo 11 and the others were located by the crews of Apollo 14 and 15. "They are simple devices, probably of the size of a large TV, which function as mirrors of great complexity.They are used as measuring distance Earth-Moon, "says Ribas.How do they act in concrete? From the observatory Apache Point (located in New Mexico , in the United States), a telescope points to the Moon and sends a high-power laser to one of three mirrors (or, at the same time, all three.) When touched in some cases, the laser returns and its specialists calculate the time it takes to go back and forth. "With this mechanism, they estimate the distance of the Moon with an error of 4 millimeters over 400 000 km. Thanks to this, it was possible to determine, for example, the process by which the moon moves away from Earth by about 3 cm per year, "said Bagú.

By the end of the Apollo program in 1972, the manned missions were suspended, but the sending of robots continued. These technologies provided increasingly strong evidence that the satellite had ice on the surface. "For decades, we know that it is concentrated in the bottom of the polar craters, so it remains to be confirmed in the years to come the characteristics of these deposits.It will be essential for the installation, from 2020, of 'a human base of average permanence on the moon,' said Mr Ribas.

Nowadays, however, NASA is not the only one because China is progressing in all areas and, without the USSR, it is joining the space race as a star competitor. "In the near future, the return of US astronauts and greater Chinese protagonism with its" taikonautas "are being considered.In addition to the scientific advances that this can mean, always keep in mind that will manage the 39 exploitation of new natural resources On the Moon, there are chemical elements that are not on our planet and could function as very important sources of energy.You must be responsible, "concludes Bagú.