In August last year, a new space race began as world super powers including the US, China, India and the EU all began trying to become the first to land on a previously undiscovered region of the moon. Neil Armstrong was the first man to step foot on the Moon back in 1969, but as of yet, no-one and nothing has successfully landed on the Moon’s south pole.
That could all change in the coming months and years as NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other agencies begin building probes and rockets to land on the previously undiscovered region – for a very important reason.
Research carried out over the last 10 years has shown that the pole of the Moon is home to one of its most valuable resources – lunar water.
The water is frozen under the surface of the natural satellite, and it could make a future lunar colony a real possibility, as well as lunar mining and even missions to Mars.
While lunar water may not seem important on the surface, the information provided by any water collected from the moon could even give us information about the origins of humans themselves.
Scientists want to mine these pockets of ancient water ice, as they could contain information about lunar volcanoes, and most notably material from comets and astreroids which hit the Earth – which could explain where life came from.
It would also be key for the future of the space travel, as large quanities of water could provide a source of drinking water during moon missions or cooling equipment. It could also be used to produce hydrogen for fuel and oxygen to breathe, to help with Mars missions and future lunar mining.
So far, no one has succeeded in landing on the Moon’s south pole, as an Israeli mission failed in 2019, as did an Indian mission, and a Japanese lunar landing failed in 2022.
Russia also tried in August 2023, but spun out of control and crashed into the ground.
In what feels like the 1960s again, NASA is also in the process of building its probe to send to the moon to look for lunar water. In August 2023, NASA reported the Lunar Trailblazer was nearing completion.
The probe, which is being built by Caltech, in Calfornia, and contributed to by the University of Oxford, is expecting to launch in early 2024 – but no launch date has officially been set yet.
Trailblazer has a mass of about 200kg, and is just 3.5m wide with its solar panels fully deployed. The probe will send back information about the Moon’s water, and allow scientists to produce maps to guide future robotic and human exploration.
Bethany Ehlmann, the mission’s principal investigator at Caltech said: “Lunar exploration is an international endeavor, and Lunar Trailblazer embodies that spirit with the University of Oxford’s and UK Space Agency’s contribution to the mission.
“With the combined power of both of these sophisticated instruments, we can better understand where and why water is on the Moon and support the next era of Moon exploration.”
