NASA shows how water could be produced on the moon



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Water is one of the most essential elements of life. As such, when it comes to possibly colonizing the moon, the question of whether or not it has water has been the subject of heated debate.

SEE ALSO: DOES WATER REALLY EXIST ON THE MOON?

Create water on the moon

A team of NASA scientists discovered that water could form on the moon. The researchers discovered that the solar wind could be the key to producing the particles needed for water.

The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the sun. On Earth, our magnetic fields protect us from this liberation.

However, on the Moon, the constant flow of plasma and particles flows smoothly at 450 kilometers per second (or almost 1 million miles per hour). When this happens, a strange but potentially useful chemistry unfolds.

With the help of a computer program, NASA scientists studied this chemistry and discovered that she was responsible for making hydrogen atoms (H). These atoms then cling to the many oxygen atoms (O) of the oxygen-containing molecules that make up the lunar soil.

Once this happens, hydrogen and oxygen produce the hydroxyl (OH) molecule. And since water is simply water, OH is one of its components.

"We think water is that special and magical compound," said William M. Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who helped develop the technology. the simulation. "But here's what's amazing: every rock has the potential to produce water, especially after being irradiated by the solar wind."

Understanding the amount of water or potential water sources on the moon is essential for sending humans on a permanent basis. The most important thing is to know where these resources can be harvested.

A question remains

Data from several spacecraft using infrared instruments to identify and understand the chemistry of the Moon's surface have been useful. However, the question of how these atoms and compounds form remains.

Some speculate that meteor impacts trigger these chemical reactions while others think the solar winds do. "From previous research, we know how much hydrogen comes from the solar wind, we also know how much is contained in the thin atmosphere of the moon and we have measurements of hydroxyl on the surface", said Orenthal James Tucker, physicist at Goddard, who led the simulation research.

"What we have done now is understand how these three inventories of hydrogen are physically related."

Tucker's simulation showed that when the solar wind blows on the moon, it breaks the bonds between the atoms constituting the celestial object. Silicon, iron and oxygen are released, leaving floating oxygen atoms with unsatisfied bonds.

Of course, these released oxygen atoms hang on the hydrogen atoms of the solar wind, creating what Farrell describes as a "chemical plant of water". Better still, the researchers' new findings state that every silica body exposed in space has the potential to create these compounds, thus giving unlimited chemical plants.

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