Modern Day Break-through:

Lunar Colonization Possible Due to Discovery of Water

By Mary Hamner

>>NASA’S LCROSS and LRO uncover mysterious water

molecules on the surface of Earth’s natural satellite, the Moon.

Traveling for 113 days, and covering a distance of 5.6 million miles, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) missions made their final approach to the moon.

The Centaur, the heaviest part of the satellite, crashed at the speed of a bullet into the Moon’s surface on Oct. 9, 2009. It was followed later by the actual satellite that was able to collect about four minutes of data before collision. The two satellites were launched from Earth on June 18, 2009.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) websites (www.nasa.gov and science.nasa.gov), about 1,000 water molecules parts-per-million were found. If the top layer of the moon’s surface were harvested, it would hold about 32 ounces of water. Though this is greater than scientists predicted, it is still a relatively small amount. Scientists are now questioning the origins of the water molecules.

LCROSS also discovered other compounds that could represent potential resources that in the future could assist in lunar explorations.

Nate Justis, Astronomy teacher, said “I don’t think that there is a lot of water, so that’s not a huge contributing factor, but I do think we will colonize the moon. It may not be long-term living, but a stepping stone to get to Mars.”

The discovery of water on the moon has been a major breakthrough in space exploration, however it is not the only one. Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) launched on Dec. 14, 2009. Its mission is to catalog hundreds of millions of objects in space, including asteroids, brown draft stars and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies.

Utah State University’s (USU) Space Dynamics Laboratory was responsible for all of the payload development and testing for the WISE satellite. USU partnered up with Industries that led to the development of the optics, focal plane module assemblies and the cryogenic support system.

“In the next 20 years, we will walk on the moon again. The number of people that will travel to space with commercial means will increase, companies that are developing programs to go to space. I don’t think that we’ll make it to Mars, but maybe in 50 years,” said Justis.

Some of the most mysterious unknowns in space that scientists are trying to solve are dark matter. “We know it’s out there, but not what it is,” said Justis.

Some of the questions concerning space are “What is the fate of our universe? Will it continue to expand? Or will it reverse and collapse?”

Though discoveries and technologies have improved, according to Justis in the future with our new “awesome telescopes” we will be able to see “more and more and be able to see further out” into space.