Simulations show that lander-depletion studies of moon-ice could cloud

A new study led by scientists at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, shows that depletion of a medium-sized lantern can spread rapidly around the moon and potentially contaminate scientifically vital iron at the lunar poles.

Computer simulations of water vapor emitted by a 2,650-pound (1,200-kilogram) lander – about a quarter of the dry mass of the Apollo Lunar Module – approaching near the moon’s south pole showed that the exhaust was only a few hours lasts over the entire Moon. From 30% to 40% of the vapor persisted two months later in the lunar atmosphere and surface, and roughly 20% would eventually freeze a few months later near the pulse.

Those results, published online August 11 in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, show that the interest of researchers in the study of the terrestrial iron in the polar craters of the moon – iron that may exist several billion years back – should be carefully considered during increased efforts to bring people to the month to return.

Dealing with space travel on the moon is not a new problem. Researchers appreciated this problem during NASA’s Apollo mission in the ’60s and’ 70s, when they developed early models to predict the distribution of emissions through the entire atmosphere and contamination of the surface.

“Emitting complex measurements during the Apollo mission is not the same as it would be now,” said Parvathy Prem, a researcher at APL and lead author on the study.

During the Apollo era, most interest was in the collection of lunar monsters. Although this is still true today, the more recent discovery of monkeys has been preserved in permanently shaded craters near the lunar poles. Scientific interest has shifted to understanding the origin and distribution of water and other volatile molecules on the surface. of the moon and in its thin atmosphere.

“These are some of the only places where we can find traces of the origin of water in the inner solar system,” Prem said. Reading that record requires measuring the composition of those ice, as well as their various isotopes to deduce where they probably came from and how they got there. Frozen-out exhaust fumes from robotic as well as human exploration accumulating on those irons could confuse those measurements, even if the landing reaches hundreds of miles away.

“The interesting thing about Parvathy’s work is that it very much shows that the effect, although small and temporary, is global,” said Dana Hurley, a planetary scientist at APL and co-author of the study.

Space organizations can expect volatile gases to significantly cover the lunar surface over 100 kilometers from the landing site.

The emission of residues eventually disappears, but Hurley points out that current plans for human lunar exploration mean it will happen more often and with much heavier landers.

“The results of this study underscore the critical need to conduct the research we want to do on the lunar atmosphere and volatile deposits, while being relatively unobtrusive,” Hurley said.

Prem warns that the model is not an idiot. One of its main limitations is that it assumes that the measure re-interacts with water and “holds” to the lunar surface, which is not yet certain, but is of great importance to understand how easily water is transported across the moon. The model also follows only water vapor, which accounts for about one-third of the composition of most countries’ emissions. Other exhaust molecules, such as hydrogen, ammonia and carbon monoxide, may behave differently and may persist even longer.

Follow-up work should include measuring how much exhaust is around the moon during and after future landings, Prem said, which would help limit an answer to how much of these exhaust gases stick to the surface. “But I would also suggest that modeling and monitoring the emission of emissions should be a routine part of monthly mission development and planning.”

Talks about mitigating emissions have only just begun, Prem explained.

In January, NASA finalized 16 loads for scientific and technological demonstration that it selected to deliver to the moon through the Artemis program, including the Surface Exosphere Alterations by Landers (SEAL), a tool that will monitor the moon’s chemical reaction. examine during a landing like any contaminants that may have been ingested.

“Whether we aim or not, we will do this experiment to bring exhaust gases with us,” Prem said. It is now a matter of deciding how we deal with them.