The moon is more beautiful than ever as a second home for humans The moon is more beautiful than ever as a second home for humans

The rock in space, the poison dust, the deadly radiation at zero atmosphere – the moon seems inhospitable until you look at its past.

Mars is the obvious first choice for the future colonization of space. Although the red planet barely has more atmosphere than our moon and is constantly bombarded with cosmic radiation, the hype comes mainly from the prospect of exploring a planet on which we never put boots before. There are already footprints on the moon. We brought moonstones and moon dust. But. NASA has recently found evidence that our satellite once had an atmosphere, which could make it even more appealing to anyone who wants to leave this planet.

After the internal solar system emerged billions of years ago, huge space rocks crashed onto the moon and nascent planets during the period known as late heavy bombardment (LHB). or lunar cataclysm. These rocks not only left gaping craters on the inner planets and the moon, but triggered violent volcanic eruptions. As the lava charged with volatile molecules oozed on the surface of the moon, the liberated hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, and carbon monoxide formed a proto-atmosphere.

What is thought to be billions of gallons of water escapes from lava flows for 70 million years of eruptions. This water and other volatile compounds either stayed on the moon or floated in space, and much of it could have settled in the lunar poles and still be in the shadow of the dark side from the moon. Based on the reported samples from Apollo missions, NASA researchers were able to determine the amounts of volatile substances that could be sources of water, air and fuel. Astronauts could use these resources, whether they stay on the moon for a while or use it to get to Mars.

Enough of these volatile substances could mean that what begins as astronaut habitats could extend to entire colonies that will depend on these resources. We absolutely can not live without water and breathable air. The fuel that will potentially fuel everything from electronics to spacecraft, can be treated by dividing the water into hydrogen and oxygen components. Of course, we will need a number of lunar missions to confirm that volatile substances actually exist in such quantities, but it seems that NASA has something to do.

If it turns out that the moon hides really enough volatile substances to make it a habitable place, there are already so many prototypes of habitats for Mars that lunar life should not be a problem .

(via researcher)