The US space agency NASA awarded contracts to four companies on Thursday to collect lunar samples for $1 to $15,000, rock-bottom prices that are intended to set a precedent for future exploitation of space resources by the private sector. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nasa-moon.html…
Tag: moon dust
UK Firm To Turn Moon Rock Into Oxygen and Building Materials
A British firm has won a European Space Agency contract to develop the technology to turn moon dust and rocks into oxygen, leaving behind aluminium, iron and other metal powders for lunar construction workers to build with. The Guardian reports: If the process can be made to work well enough, it will pave the way for extraction facilities on the moon…
Scientists Solve a Mystery By Firing a Laser at the Moon
“The moon is drifting away,” reports the New York Times. Every year, it gets about an inch and a half farther from us. Hundreds of millions of years from now, our companion in the sky will be distant enough that there will be no more total solar eclipses. For decades, scientists have measured the moon’s retreat by firing a laser at…
One small grain of moon dust, one giant leap for lunar studies
Back in 1972, NASA sent their last team of astronauts to the Moon in the Apollo 17 mission. These astronauts brought some of the Moon back to Earth so scientists could continue to study lunar soil in their labs. Since we haven’t returned to the Moon in almost 50 years, every lunar sample is precious. We need to make them count…
New facility to produce oxygen from Moon dust
A new technique could help make it possible for humans to live on the lunar surface in the not-too-distant future. In order for mankind to live on the… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/333939/new-facility-to-produce-oxygen-from-moon-dust…