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After decades of uncertainty, researchers have confirmed the existence of the lunar carbon dioxide cold trap, which may contain solid carbon dioxide. This discovery may have a major impact on shaping future lunar missions, and may affect the viability of robots or humans to continue to exist on the moon.
In the permanent shadow regions of the moon's poles, the temperature is lower than that of Pluto's coldest regions, thus forming a cold trap of carbon dioxide. In these cold traps, carbon dioxide molecules may freeze and remain in a solid form even during the highest temperature in the lunar summer.
Future human or robotic explorers can use the solid carbon dioxide in these cold traps to produce fuel or materials to extend the moon's residence time. Carbon dioxide and other potentially volatile organic compounds can also help scientists better understand the origin of water and other elements on the moon.
Although planetary scientists have predicted cold traps for many years, this new study is the first to determine and map the existence of carbon dioxide cold traps. In order to find the coldest point on the moon's surface, the researchers analyzed 11 years of temperature data from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, an instrument that flew on NASA's lunar reconnaissance orbiter.
The new study, published in the AGU magazine Geophysical Research Letters, shows that these cold traps consist of several pockets concentrated around the lunar south pole. The total area of these carbon dioxide traps totals 204 square kilometers, of which the largest area in the Amundsen Crater has 82 square kilometers of traps. In these areas, the temperature is consistently below 60 degrees Kelvin (approximately minus 352 degrees Fahrenheit).
The researchers said that the existence of a carbon dioxide cold trap does not guarantee the presence of solid carbon dioxide on the moon, but this verification does make it possible for future missions to find carbon dioxide ice there.
"I think that when I started this research, the question was,'Can we confidently say whether there is a carbon dioxide cold trap on the moon?'" Erhoff said. "What surprises me is that they do exist. It may be because we can’t be sure that they exist, [they may have been] located on a pixel on the map... so I think it’s surprising that we really I found a continuous area without a doubt, cold enough."
The existence of carbon dioxide traps on the moon may have an impact on future plans for lunar exploration and international policies regarding this resource.
If solid carbon dioxide does exist in these cold traps, it may be used in a variety of ways. Future space explorers can use these resources to produce steel, rocket fuel, and biological materials, which are vital to the continued existence of robots or humans on the moon. This potential has already aroused the interest of the government and private companies.
Scientists can also study lunar carbon to understand how organic compounds are formed and what kind of molecules can be produced naturally in these harsh environments.
Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said that carbon dioxide cold traps can also help scientists answer long-term questions about the origin of water and other volatiles in the Earth-Moon system. Learn.
Carbon dioxide can be used as a tracer for the sources of water and other volatiles on the moon's surface, helping scientists understand how they reach the moon and the earth.
"These should be the priority goals for future landing missions," Hein said. "With this precise positioning, you might go to the surface of the moon to answer some major questions about volatiles on the moon and their transport from other parts of the solar system." Further exploration and research revealed dark craters on the moon. More information: Norbert Schorghofer et al. Man, carbon dioxide cold trap on the moon, Geophysical Research Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1029/2021GL095533 Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters
Citation provided by the American Geophysical Union: First confirmation of the presence of a carbon dioxide cold trap on the moon (November 15, 2021), retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2021-11-carbon-dioxide-cold December 8, 2021日-moon.html This document is protected by copyright. Except for any fair transaction for private learning or research purposes, no part may be copied without written permission. The content is for reference only.
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