Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
Researchers find evidence of CO2 or cold carbon dioxide in the Month potentially contain solid carbon dioxide.
The discovery is considered to be useful for future robots or humans who want to explore the Moon in the long term.
The presence of solid carbon dioxide on the Moon is said to be used to produce fuel or materials that are useful for staying on the Moon in the long term.
Carbon dioxide and other potentially volatile organic matter can also help scientists understand the origin of water and other materials on the moon.
In the shaded region of the Moon where there is no sunlight, temperatures drop even below those of Pluto’s coldest regions, allowing carbon dioxide to be stored in solid form.
In such situations, carbon dioxide molecules can freeze and remain in solid form even during peak temperatures in the summer months.
This phenomenon, known as cold traps, has been predicted by planetary scientists for years. But recent studies have firmly established and mapped the presence of carbon dioxide cold traps.
To find the coldest spot on the lunar surface, the researchers analyzed temperature data over a span of 11 years from the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, the instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Recent research published in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters shows that this cold trap includes several pockets concentrated around the moon’s south pole.
The total area of this carbon dioxide trap is 204 square kilometers, with the largest area at Amundsen Crater housing 82 square kilometers of traps. In this area, the temperature constantly stays below 60 degrees kelvin or around minus 213 degrees Celsius.
Reported from Tech Explorist, although the presence of cold traps of carbon dioxide does not guarantee the presence of solid carbon dioxide on the Moon, but this verification raises the possibility that future missions may find carbon dioxide in the form of ice there.
“I think when I started this, the question was, ‘Can we confidently say there is a carbon dioxide cold trap on the Moon or not?'” said Norbert Schörghofer, a planetary scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and lead author of the study.
“The surprise is that they’re actually there. It could be that we can’t confirm their whereabouts, [mereka mungkin] one pixel on the map… so I think the surprise was that we actually found a pretty cool area, no doubt about it,” he added.
The presence of carbon dioxide traps on the Moon is likely to have an impact on future lunar exploration planning and international resource policy.
Quoted from Phys, if there is indeed solid carbon dioxide in this cold trap, future space explorers could use those resources in the production of steel as well as rocket fuel and biomaterials, both of which are essential to the continued existence of robots or humans on the Moon.
Then scientists can also study lunar carbon to understand how organic compounds are formed and what types of molecules can be produced naturally in harsh environments.
According to Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado, Boulder who was not involved in the study, cold traps of carbon dioxide could also help scientists answer long-standing questions about the origin of water and other volatiles in the Earth-Moon system.
Carbon dioxide could be a tracer of water and other volatile substances on the lunar surface, helping scientists understand how they arrived on the moon and on Earth.
“This should be a high priority site to target for future landing missions,” Hayne said.
(lnn / fjr)
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