As NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Orbiter and Lunar Lander are ready to fire, finding the moon’s water will make a big leap into a new territory. This mission, which is riding together in the same Spacex Falcon9 Rocket, aims to answer the main questions about the existence of water in the moon, which is the top priority in space exploration.
The launch is scheduled for the Kennedy Space Center in NASA in Florida on February 26, 2025. The lunar trail blazer constantly orbits the chart on the chart, while the intuitive machine render (“Athena”) reaches the Antarctica of the moon and places the instrument to measure water ice and gas by penetrating the surface.
Mapping water on the moon
After launch Lunar trail blazer -The small satellite-it will have a way to be helped by the gravity of the earth, moon, and sun, called “low energy delivery”. After 4-7 months, it takes to enter the moon’s orbit and scan the traces of water for the next two years.
The satellite uses two devices to measure high resolution volatile materials and mineral moon mapper (HVM3) and lunar thermal map (LTM). HVM3, a short -wave infrared image spectroscopy, detects the wavelength of the reflected sunlight to determine the form of the moon surface, the richness and the location of the water. Meanwhile collisions, on the other hand, the low -end LTM will measure the surface temperature of the moon concentrated on the HVM3 in the same area.
The collaboration between the two instruments produces a detailed map for different times all day, so that the amount of water can show potential changes every night. Scientists use this information to better understand how the moon’s watering works in the public environment.
Drilling
Take another trajectory IM-2 According to NASA, the mission is expected to land in the lunar Antarctica around March 6 after spending about a week on March 6th.
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLP) program, IM-2 has several technologies for performing tests in the moon. The most prominent of this payload Prime -1NASA Survey using two instruments that help you search for water: Trident (Regolith and ICE Drill), a mass analyzer that can extract the lunar soil and a soil sample that can extract the lunar soil.
Read more: We reconsider the origin of water found in the moon
Why is the lunar calendar so important?
In 2008, the pursuit of the moon has accelerated since the discovery of water molecules in the moon soil by Chandrayaan -1 Probe of the Indian Space Research Organization. In the next few years, the space agency competed to find additional evidence of the lunar calendar.
Water ice is considered to occur mainly in the permanent shadow polar regions of the moon, but by 2020, water molecules were detected in the sun’s sunlight by the stratospace observatory for the infrared astronomy (SOFIA), a joint project between the NASA and the German Airlines Aerospace Center.
Scientists tried to accurately understand the cause of water ice on the moon. Many theory From the comet shock to the sun that interacts with the moon, it produces a hydrogen atom combined with the conventional oxygen atom under the moon surface.
This mystery has not been solved yet, but Lunar Trailblazer and IM-2 missions can take a step closer to scientists to chase. Since the presence of lunar ice can eventually be translated into fuel for drinking water, breathability air and astronauts, the result of the mission can cause hope for future space missions.
Read more: The moon’s water can go back to the initial earth.
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Jack Knudson is a second editor of Discover and is very interested in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today Magazine.
