All the space agencies in the world are in race to reach on the moon’s south pole, but the major question that arises is that why every country wants to land on this region? Here is the reason that the space agencies and private enterprises view this as pivotal move.
Notably, India’s space agency is currently engaged in a notable endeavor: the mission to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon’s south pole. This mission carries the potential to propel India’s space aspirations forward and contribute to our understanding of lunar water ice, a resource of significant importance on the moon.
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How and When Was Water Recovered on Moon?
Starting as early as the 1960s, even before the initial Apollo landing, the notion of lunar water was a subject of scientific speculation. When Apollo crews returned lunar samples for analysis in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the samples seemed to lack any signs of water.
In 2008, Brown University scientists reexamined these lunar samples using advanced technology, revealing the presence of hydrogen within minute volcanic glass beads. Subsequently, in 2009, a NASA instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-1 mission identified water on the lunar surface.
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In the same year, another NASA probe impacting the moon’s south pole unveiled the existence of water ice beneath the lunar surface. Additionally, an earlier NASA mission, the 1998 Lunar Prospector, had gathered evidence indicating that the most concentrated water ice was located within the shadowed craters of the moon’s south pole.
Importance of Water on Moon
The reason that the scientists are interested in the Moon’s ancient water ice ins that if it exists in the sufficient quantity than it could be used as a source of drinking water along with helping in cooling equipment’s.
The water can also be used to produce hydrogen for fuel and oxygen to create a breathing and working atmosphere for missions including missions to Mars or lunar mining.
However, the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty that that the no nation can claim the ownership of the moon and no one can have its exclusive rights over its resources. Only two nations – China and Russia have not signed the treaty.
