Minimoon, a new interstellar habitat It may help humans transform themselves into creatures with a home in space.
Mini Moon – Some scientists hope to use these tiny objects to push humanity’s limits even further.
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In 2006, astronomers from the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, USA, discovered a strange object floating among a sea of man-made satellites. There are thousands of moons orbiting our planet.
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After the team has carefully examined They discovered that it was not space junk. And it is not man-made.
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Rather, it is a natural object that is temporarily pulled into orbit with the Earth. Scientists therefore call those objects ‘minimoons’ or, more easily understood, tiny moon
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For example, the object named ‘2006 RH120’ is only a few meters in diameter. Or, in 2020, the discovered minimoon named ‘2020 CD3’ was the size of a small car.
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These objects are actually different from the ‘Moon’ but are able to travel as companions to the Earth for a period of about 1 year before being ejected from the influence of the Earth-Moon.
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But because they are close enough to Earth These minimoons therefore require close scientific investigation. But some experts believe that They have the potential to act as a stepping stone to our exploration of the universe.
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Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Livescince.com that minimoons could become important. “To achieve this goal while humans operate in interstellar space, and can reach Mars.”
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steps of stone
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In September 2016, NASA launched the mission. An unmanned ‘Osiris-Rex’ (OSIRIS-REx) to collect samples from a potentially dangerous planet named ‘Bennu’ (Bennu), which has a 1 in 1 chance of colliding with Earth. 2,700 in 2182 and 7 years later (2023) Osiris-Rex Came back with success
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This event has inspired some scientists to consider using a nearby asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars. Professor Binzel It is said that bringing in these objects to join missions may have other good benefits as well. Like testing the technology used to expand the colony out into the universe. And these mini moons are easily accessible.
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“If (humans) want to go anywhere in space You have to change the speed,” Binzel said. He added that these minimoons are small objects with very little gravity. It also has a low ‘delta-V’ velocity shift, which means it doesn’t require much thrust to move the spacecraft from low Earth orbit to the asteroid.
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With these features Minimoon missions therefore use less fuel to travel to other objects in the universe. “It will take only a small amount of fuel to exit the minimoon. and can head back to Earth,” Binzel added. Research indicates that A minimoon trip will take approximately 100 days to go there and back.
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Although in theory Mimi Moon will give you a good outlook. But there are still many limitations that make planning difficult. and carry out their mission before they are ejected from Earth’s orbit. Which is the most important limitation? its ‘temporality’
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“They are in temporary orbit with the Earth. So they’re like pets,” Binzel said. “They’re temporary pets that you keep for a while. And then they wandered off,” not with us for the rest of our lives like our permanent moon.
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However, it could also serve as a testbed for the performance of space technology. Its life support systems, engines, and propulsion systems are not possible on Earth or other asteroids.
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“Getting to Mars is a big step,” said Paul Abell, chief scientist for small object exploration at NASA. “There’s a lot that needs to happen. Why don’t we take a look at some of the near-Earth asteroids that lie between the Earth-Moon system? and Mars”
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Not only that These mini-moon trips could also help pioneers on Mars: mining for water. Water in space isn’t just for drinking. But it can also be used as rocket fuel. Which is basically liquid hydrogen.
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This is important. This is because spacecraft currently have to carry ‘all’ the water and fuel they need from Earth. This creates enormous weight and requires the rocket to have more fuel to propel it away from the Earth’s gravitational pull. Adding even a small amount of weight increases the rocket’s fuel requirements dramatically. But if we have a minimoon that is like a ‘stopover’ to refuel. We will be able to save a lot of costs.
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“When you go on vacation When you fly or you drive somewhere You won’t have oxygen, food, everything with you for the entire trip,” Abel said. “As well, we wanted to avoid having to carry everything from Earth with us. Go all the way out and come back. Because it is very expensive.”
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Near-Earth asteroids may therefore be suitable candidates for space ‘fuel’ stations. Research has shown that many of these objects are rich in minerals. and water trapped within If we have access to this water (which must be separated into oxygen and hydrogen) could become an important source of rocket fuel.
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“If you have access to that water, and take advantage of it Suddenly you will have water to drink. There is oxygen for breathing. And more importantly You have rocket fuel,” Abel added.
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rocket fuel
Most of NASA’s current efforts are Focus on harvesting water from the moon But many private companies, including Karman+, TransAstra and AstroForge, are also targeting asteroids for mining water and metals.
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Experts say these operations are unlikely to materialize any time soon, largely because they are expensive and the required technology is not yet well developed. But minimoon missions themselves could serve as temporary training and testing sites for companies.
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However, the downside to minimoons is that There is a small space. And because the surface is dry from “sitting in the sun and being cooked for a long time,” Binzel said, many scientists believe that This temporary minimoon has no water. But no one has been able to prove it yet. “You don’t know until you see it,” Binzel said.
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Find more minimoons
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Being small and moving quickly This makes them difficult for ground-based telescopes to detect. But scientists believe that a newly built ground-based telescope high in the Chilean Andes mountains which will be the largest digital camera in the world will fix this problem It is expected to be deactivated in 2050.
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Classified as a ‘Legacy Survey of Space and Time’, the camera will take 700 images each night for 10 years to provide reports on the solar system. It is highly accurate, allowing users to explore the universe in unrivaled detail. that it will be Dark matter or dark energy A 2020 simulation revealed that it will also detect minimoons more frequently, every three months.
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Not only that, in 2027 NASA also intends to use another instrument called ‘NEO Surveyor’ to detect asteroids in space. It performs a full sky scan every two weeks to identify and detect any satellites that may pose a threat to Earth. Although the main goal is to identify ‘Killer asteroid’, but it has the potential to be a mini-moon discovered
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While it is still too early to tell whether mini-moon missions will play a significant role in space technology, Or space mining? But many experts believe that studying these temporary companions of the world There will be many other areas of knowledge to follow. Including finding the seeds of life in the solar system. And Minimoon is one great place to be.
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“The reason is that we have never been there before. Because there aren’t many (minimoons),” Binzel said. “But we’re just now discovering them. And they will be at the forefront because we have new telescopes coming out.”
Searched and edited by Witit Borompichaichartkul
Origin
https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/undiscovered-minimoons-may-orbit-earth-could-they-help-us-become-an-interplanetary-species
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=2006%20RH120
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/news/2020/02/catalina-sky-survey-discovers-new-mini-moon-orbiting-earth
https://www.nature.com/articles/514559a
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018JE005584
https://www.eenews.net/articles/lunar-gold-rush-nasa-wants-to-mine-the-moon/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2018.00013/full
https://hir.harvard.edu/economics-of-the-stars/
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