The Moon is a School for Exploration

NASA has been exploring space for nearly half a century, often with stupendous success. Yet "there's one thing we really don't know: what is the best way to explore a planet?" declares Paul D. Spudis, a senior planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.

Discovering the most effective techniques for exploring a planet is itself cutting-edge research—just as discovering the most effective mining technologies or the best ways of surviving and making machinery work in Antarctica are pioneering research.

Thus, for the same reasons that nations have founded university-level schools of mines and the U.S. Army founded its own Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, NASA wants to use the Moon as a graduate school for exploration.

On the Moon, astronauts can develop and test techniques for building habitats, harvesting resources and operating machinery in low gravity, high vacuum, harsh radiation, pervasive dust and fantastic extremes of temperature—an environment whose prolonged combination is simply impossible to duplicate on Earth. What they learn will be useful not only on the Moon, but also essential for preparations in going to Mars.

One research project topping the curriculum: What is the best combination of humans and robots? Unmanned orbiting spacecraft and rovers have returned millions of gigabytes of high-quality data from the Moon and planets, revolutionizing our understanding of the solar system. But for geological field work, says Spudis, nothing can replace a trained geologist with a rock hammer, experienced eyes, and the knowledge to "understand rocks in the context of their environment."

For that reason, NASA wants to explore how best to blend humans and machines. One promising technology is telepresence, similar to what's now used in hospital operating rooms for certain types of surgery. From the safety of a radiation-shielded underground lunar habitat, a geologist's movements could be "instantly mirrored by a robot on the surface, complete with instant sensory feedback much as an astronaut has through the gloves of a space suit," Spudis explains. Is that the best way, though? In some circumstances, a robot on its own making lightning-fast decisions with artificial intelligence might do a better job. Again, it's a question best answered by on-site research.

Other crucial things humans could learn from lunar experience is how to "make useful things from dirt," Spudis says. On the Moon and Mars, local resources are going to be crucial to astronauts who cannot remain wholly dependent on Earth for supplies. "Aside from solar power, we've never used space resources for any mission," Spudis says, "so we need to understand [how to do it]."

The official NASA acronym for living off the land is ISRU, for In-Situ Resource Utilization. ISRU is basically figuring out how to dig into the surface of another planet, how to get the alien dirt to funnel down a hopper in low gravity (a surprisingly tricky problem), and how to crack and heat the soil to extract valuable liquids and gases—all with high reliability and few mechanical problems.

What's in the lunar regolith that astronauts might need or want to mine? Most immediately useful are oxygen and hydrogen. "From those two elements, we can generate electricity using fuel cells, which make drinkable water as a by-product," Spudis explains. "Hydrogen and oxygen are also rocket propellant. The oxygen astronauts can breathe."

Good news: Oxygen on the Moon is abundant. The lunar crust is 40 percent oxygen by mass, and NASA scientists have lots of ideas for how to extract it. Simply heating lunar soil to very high temperature causes gaseous oxygen to emerge. The most efficient techniques remain to be discovered.

Not-so-good news: Hydrogen on the Moon is relatively rare. That's one reason NASA is keen to explore the lunar poles where some 10 billion metric tons of frozen water may exist in permanently shaded craters: "ice is a concentrated form of hydrogen," Spudis notes. Experience gained at the Moon's poles may apply to Mars, where ice is also thought to be mixed with deep soil and rock.

"We need to set up shop on the Moon for one clear and understandable reason," he concludes. "The Moon is a school for exploration."

Source: Science@NASA, by Trudy E. Bell

Related stories:

The Moon is a Harsh Witness
With binoculars, examine the rugged face of the Moon. It is pocked with thousands of impact craters from interplanetary asteroids and comets. Ever wonder why Earth, a much bigger target, apparently has so few craters? They're so rare that a pristine example, the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona, is actually a tourist attraction. Did Earth just get lucky and dodge the heavy artillery?
Planets Align for the 4th of July
News Flash: On 4th of July weekend, NASA forecasts lights in the sky. No, not those lights. Look beyond the fireworks. Almost halfway up the western sky, just above the twilight glow of sunset, a trio of worlds is gathering: Saturn, Mars and the crescent Moon.
Moon-Bound NASA Spacecraft Passes Major Preflight Tests
Engineering teams are conducting final checkouts of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, known as LCROSS, that will take a significant step forward in the search for water on the moon.


Scientists think big impact caused two-faced Mars
(AP) -- Why is Mars two-faced? Scientists say fresh evidence supports the theory that a monster impact punched the red planet, leaving behind perhaps the largest gash on any heavenly body in the solar system.
NASA Tests Lunar Robots and Spacesuits on Earthly Moonscape
Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.
Mini subs to probe odd structures in BC lake
Single person submersibles have been called in to help scientists retrieve samples from a lake in northern British Columbia that may hold vital clues to the history of life on Earth and on other planets.
Introducing the Spacesuit of the Future
NASA has awarded a contract to Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston, for the design, development and production of a new spacesuit system. The spacesuit will protect astronauts during Constellation Program voyages to the International Space Station and, by 2020, the surface of the moon.
NASA Scientists Pioneer Method for Making Giant Lunar Telescopes
Scientists working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have concocted an innovative recipe for giant telescope mirrors on the Moon. To make a mirror that dwarfs anything on Earth, just take a little bit of carbon, throw in some epoxy, and add lots of lunar dust.

News discussion:

Should we mine our Moon ...? in Space & Earth science news