New minerals appear, what other surprises will the moon bring?

On September 9, my country announced the discovery of "Chang'e Stone" in the study of lunar samples, which is also the sixth new mineral found on the moon. In fact, in recent years, lunar soil research has brought people many surprises, such as unexpected water resources, simpler extraction methods for new energy sources such as helium-3, and special construction uses for lunar soil. With the continuous emergence of relevant results, aerospace technology that helps humans fly to the moon has also made progress, which is enough to make people look forward to the future prospects of building a lunar base and developing the moon.

Image courtesy of the National Space Administration

There are many surprises

On December 17, 2020, the Chang'e-5 returner returned to Earth with 1,731 grams of lunar "local specialties", providing us with a good opportunity to learn more about the moon. At present, researchers have achieved a series of results in magma differentiation, space weathering, bioenergy conversion, etc., and have a preliminary understanding of the morphology and mineral composition of lunar samples. The "Chang'e Stone" discovered this time is an important achievement of researchers.

"Chang'e Stone" is a beautiful columnar transparent crystal. As a phosphate mineral, it exists in the lunar basalt particles, accompanied by fayalite, ilmenite, troilite, etc. The study of lunar soil is a typical frontier basic scientific research, which can drive a series of related scientific and technological progress. The high-tech means of discovering "Chang'e Stone" this time deserves attention.

It is reported that when X-rays pass through mineral crystals, they encounter regularly arranged atoms in the crystals and scatter, which then shows a unique diffraction phenomenon corresponding to the crystal structure. Based on this, researchers separated a single crystal particle of about 10 microns in size from 140,000 lunar sample particles and successfully analyzed its structure. There is no doubt that similar technical means will help researchers further study the composition of the moon, and it is expected to construct a model of the lunar evolution history, summarize the laws of lunar environmental changes, and make good use of them.

Scientists still need to study the use of "Chang'e Stone", and the results with relatively greater potential economic value also owe a lot to the Chang'e 5 returner.

Microscope photos of lunar samples

Not long ago, Chinese researchers successfully obtained the content and extraction parameters of helium-3, a future nuclear fusion energy resource, from lunar soil samples for the first time. This provides valuable basic scientific data for my country's subsequent remote sensing detection of lunar helium-3 resource distribution, estimation of total resources, and even future development.

You should know that helium-3, as a fuel for future controlled nuclear fusion, is expected to produce more than 10 times the energy of uranium-235 nuclear fission. Theoretically, the energy contributed by 100 tons of helium-3 nuclear fusion can be used by all mankind for one year. In addition, helium-3 helps to build an extremely low temperature environment, and cutting-edge scientific research such as superconductivity and quantum computers will also benefit greatly.

As Chinese researchers gradually deepen their research on lunar soil, a relatively feasible new idea has emerged: using ilmenite particles to screen and extract helium-3 at room temperature.

If humans want to survive on the moon for a long time, the biggest challenge is to obtain enough water and oxygen to sustain life activities. Traditional views are pessimistic about this, but in recent years, researchers seem to have discovered more possibilities.

Water resources have been found in the lunar soil and rock samples carried by the Chang'e-5 returner, especially in the surface layer of minerals, where there is a large amount of solar wind-derived water. The 10,000-meter-deep pits at the lunar south pole are likely to contain ancient water ice, so the next lunar exploration plans of many countries, including my country, have already targeted the lunar south pole.

If there is no sufficient natural water resource on the moon, there are other "remedies": using oxygen-containing iron minerals in the lunar soil and then stimulating reduction reactions with hydrogen, it is also possible to produce fresh water, and humans can take the first step towards survival on the moon. Next, using nuclear batteries or space solar power stations to provide energy can promote the electrolysis of lunar water resources to obtain oxygen and important energy hydrogen, laying the foundation for building a lunar base and working and living normally on the lunar surface.

Foreign commercial aerospace companies have even proposed a bolder plan: using lunar water resources to prepare propellant and provide in-orbit refueling services for spacecraft.

How to prepare for the moon

In recent years, NASA has been determined to "return to the moon." Although the "Artemis" plan has been repeatedly postponed and the SLS plan has been accused of "lack of ambition," the technical preparations for a new round of manned lunar landing are indeed moving forward in parallel and should not be underestimated.

In terms of transportation, SLS uses a lot of mature technologies, so there are no insurmountable technical obstacles in theory. The Orion spacecraft and the "Starship" manned lunar module developed by SpaceX have undergone rigorous technical demonstration and testing, so they are likely to succeed. Even if SLS is really unusable, "Starship" as a "substitute" with a more radical technical concept has the opportunity to take on the big task.

In terms of flight path, NASA abandoned the "simple" plan of the Apollo program, which used a heavy rocket to send people directly to the moon. Instead, it emphasized comprehensive benefits and future potential, and first built a lunar space station. To this end, a probe to verify the lunar orbit and navigation equipment has been launched, and is expected to enter orbit in November this year and usher in the "assessment results." If all goes well, the Falcon Heavy rocket will gradually launch the lunar space station module in the future.

Next, the SLS and Orion spacecraft will send astronauts to the lunar space station, while the Falcon Heavy rocket will launch an improved cargo Dragon spacecraft to undertake the task of supplying materials to the lunar space station. After the astronauts are adjusted, they can take the "Starship" manned lunar module that has been docked with the lunar space station in advance and go to the moon.

In terms of personnel equipment, NASA recently selected Axiom Aerospace as the supplier of the lunar surface walking system (also known as the lunar surface advanced space suit) and awarded a contract worth $228.5 million. It is expected that two astronauts will wear this space suit to land on the moon in the "Artemis-3" mission in 2025, and NASA has also prepared a new generation of space suits such as the "Orion space suit" as a backup.

In addition, Western researchers have also studied the use of artificial intelligence algorithms to observe the permanent shadow areas on the lunar surface, preliminarily selected several candidate landing areas near the Moon's South Pole, and launched multiple lunar rover projects.

In fact, it is not only the Western aerospace community that has the ambition to send humans to the moon. Chinese aerospace experts have also publicly stated that the new generation of manned launch vehicles will be able to send Chinese people to the moon around 2030. Currently, my country is demonstrating a manned lunar landing plan and will build an international lunar research station in the future.

The future of building a base is bright

If humans want to build a base on the moon and live there for a long time in the future, they obviously cannot rely entirely on large-scale delivery of supplies from the earth. They must learn to "use local materials" on the moon and make full use of lunar resources with the help of more advanced and intelligent multifunctional robots.

For example, researchers have found that lunar soil is an excellent building material, with characteristics such as high temperature resistance, strong heat insulation, radiation resistance, and high strength. On the lunar surface lacking the protection of the atmosphere, combined with 3D printing technology, special adhesives, and robotic arms, lunar soil will become an ideal choice for building personnel residences.

In addition, studies have found that the components of lunar soil can provide great assistance in the catalytic synthesis of aerospace propellants such as methane and methanol, as well as space planting.

It can be said that in-depth research on the mineral properties of lunar soil can help us explore lunar resources, build an extraterrestrial environment and life support system with lower energy consumption, and alleviate the pressure on resource supply. It will be of great significance for the construction and operation of future lunar bases, as well as the survival of astronauts and future deep space exploration.

The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind cannot live in the cradle forever. In the near future, the lunar base will take shape, and the achievements and experience gained from the lunar base will also have positive significance for the establishment of a Mars base in the future. In addition, the lunar base can serve as a "transit station" like the lunar space station, helping humans to train and "refuel" here and travel to more distant alien planets.

Human exploration of the moon is still in its infancy, and there are many secrets to be uncovered. But we can boldly imagine that as scientific research continues to prove the feasibility of developing extraterrestrial space, a lunar base is getting closer and closer, and developing the moon is no longer far away. (Author: Zhang Kai)