The waning moon is seen at the sky over Frankfurt, Germany, early Monday, Oct. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
By Marcia Dunn
The moon’s shadowed, frigid nooks and crannies may hold frozen water in more places and in larger quantities than previously suspected, good news for astronauts at future lunar bases who could tap into these resources for drinking and making rocket fuel, scientists reported Monday.
While previous observations have indicated millions of tons of ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon’s poles, a pair of studies in the journal Nature Astronomy take the availability of lunar surface water to a new level.
More than 15,400 square miles (40,000 square kilometers) of lunar terrain have the capability to trap water in the form of ice, according to a team led by the University of Colorado’s Paul Hayne. That’s 20% more area than previous estimates, he said.
These ice-rich areas are near the moon’s north and south poles. Temperatures are so low in these so-called cold traps — minus 261 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 163 degrees Celsius) — that they could hold onto the water for millions or even billions of years.
“We believe this will help expand the possible landing sites for future lunar missions seeking water, opening up real estate previously considered ‘off limits’ for being bone dry,” Hayne said in an email to The Associated Press.
Using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the researchers identified cold traps as small as a few yards (meters) across and as wide as 18 miles (30 kilometers) and more and used computer models to get all the way down to micrometers in size.
“Since the little ones are too small to see from orbit, despite being vastly more numerous, we can’t yet identify ice inside them,” Hayne said. “Once we’re on the surface, we will do that experiment.”
For a second study, scientists used NASA's airborne infrared observatory Sofia to conclusively identify water molecules on the sunlit portions of the moon, just outside the polar regions. Most of these molecules are likely stored in the voids between moon dust and other particles or locked inside glassy volcanic material.
Scientists believe all this water on the moon came from comets, asteroids, interplanetary dust, solar wind, or even lunar volcanic eruptions. They'll have a better idea of the sources “if we can get down on the surface and analyze samples of the ice,” Hayne said.
The lead researcher, Casey Honniball, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said at a news conference that she wanted to make it clear the Sofia study had not found puddles on the moon. Rather, the identified hydrogen and oxygen molecules are so far apart, they are neither in liquid or solid form, she noted.
NASA is under White House direction to put astronauts back on the moon by 2024. The space agency wants its new Artemis moon-landing program to be sustainable, unlike the Apollo program a half-century ago.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
After two decades of engineering, over $10 billion, and a series of delays, the most powerful telescope built by NASA is finally scheduled to launch on Saturday. The James Webb Space Telescope was built to provide a fresh look at the universe by detecting light that is invisible to the human eye and to reveal new information about the universe's oldest stars and galaxies. Lou Strolger, observatory scientist and deputy head of instruments division, space telescope, joins Cheddar News.
Carlo and Baker kick off the weirdest week of the year with all the news you missed over the holiday weekend, including calls for the CDC to shorten its isolation window as Omicron sweeps through the country.
The 2022 Winter Olympics will be without some of hockey's biggest players. The NHL and the NHL Player's Association have agreed to not participate in the men's hockey tournament at the Games in Beijing next year. The league has been forced to postpone some games because of a rise in COVID-19 cases among players. Washington Post sports reporter Samantha Pell joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the Winter Olympics and the sport of hockey.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a formal investigation into Tesla. The agency is looking into about 580,000 Tesla vehicles, and a feature called 'Passenger Play' which allows drivers to play video games on the center touch screen. The feature previously only worked when a vehicle was in park; but, the NHTSA says it has confirmed that the feature has been available while vehicles are in motion since December of 2020. iSeeCars.com executive analyst Karl Brauer joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Baron Davis and Kate Hudson want you to bring cannabis home for the holidays. The cannabis-infused seltzer brand Cann released a new spot featuring the actress and former NBA player. The campaign comes hand in hand with Cann's launch of a new holiday bundle, which includes its product with Hudson's King Street Vodka. Davis and Hudson are also Cann investors. Cheddar cannabis reporter Chloe Aiello spoke to Davis about his involvement with the company and its new campaign.
Healthcare workforce management platform ShiftMed
recently announced a $45 million funding round.
The company's platform connects nurses and healthcare professionals to hospitals and other healthcare providers.
ShiftMed's new funding comes amid widespread labor shortages in the healthcare sector. The company's CEO Todd Walrath joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Universities like UCLA, Yale, and Duke have announced they're implementing remote learning amid the COVID omicron variant surge, despite President Biden recommending that K-12 schools should continue in-person education. Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at American Progress, joined Cheddar to break down what institutions of higher education might be considering differently. "I think some universities are allowing periods of a bit of a respite to allow students to get testing and make sure when they do return back to campus that they're healthy," he noted.
Supply chain issues have become one of the biggest roadblocks for the U.S. EV market, with production woes likely to stunt the industry's growth in 2022. Rich Steinberg, electric vehicle expert and industry advisor, told Cheddar that the Biden administration investing in domestic mining for essential minerals used in battery manufacturing — such as lithium — could help alleviate the bottlenecks. "Some of those same materials are available domestically, they just haven't been prioritized," he said, noting the paradox between green tech and "dirty" mining. "The good news is that there are ways to extract those materials cleanly."
Hyperfine, the pioneer of the very first FDA-approved portable MRI device, made its public debut on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger. CEO Dave Scott joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to discuss the IPO launch, the company's valuation at $580 million, and the impact of its machine called Swoop. "We can roll an MRI system, our MRI Swoop system, right into the room where you are, right up to your patient bedside, and scan you right there and get an image in less than an hour," he explained.
Dr. Rob Davidson, Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Health Care and an ER Physician in West Michigan, joins Cheddar News to break down the expectations of Pfizer's new COVID-19 treatment pill.
