Lunar Colonies: Water on the Moon and Growing Plants in Lunar Soil

 Traditional scientific thought says that our Moon is a dead world. The core is solid so no internal geological activity occurs. It has no atmosphere, water, or life. But, in the past, massive volcanic eruptions occurred on our natural satellite. These volcanoes created lava tubes large enough to hold a city. And, just as with volcanoes on Earth, lunar volcanoes belched out gases and water vapor creating a temporary atmosphere on the Moon. The Moon’s weak gravity couldn’t hold any atmosphere, and with daytime temperatures reaching more than 250 degrees, all the water belched from these volcanoes quickly evaporated into space.

With the help of orbiting satellites like the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists discovered cold traps, craters at the north and south poles of the Moon so deep that sunlight never reaches the crater floors. Some of the water vapor belched out by the volcanoes wanders around the lunar surface to freeze in these craters before the sun can boil it into space. Over the eons, ice sheets hundreds of feet thick have formed in these cold traps. Dust kicked up by the many meteors striking the Moon covers the ice, further insulating it from the daytime heat.

NASA plans to send astronauts back to the Moon within this decade with the Artemis mission. They plan to land at the Moon’s south pole. The water there can be used both for drinking and as a source of rocket fuel.

The Moon's North and South poles. Credit NASA.

Andrew Wilcoski, a doctoral student in the department of astrophysical and planetary sciences and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at CU Boulder, is the lead author of the study published in The Planetary Science Journal “We envision (the ice) as a frost on the moon that built up over time,” he said. “It’s possible that 5 or 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) below the surface, you have big sheets of ice.”

Just a few decades ago, no astronomer would have believed this was possible. Now, lunar ice will allow astronauts to stay for an extended time on the moon.

Another group of researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville planted thale cress seeds in lunar soil returned by Apollo astronauts. Although the plants grew more slowly and were scrawnier than others grown in volcanic material from Earth, they did sprout and grow. “Nothing really compared to when we first saw the seedlings as they were sprouting in the lunar regolith,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, co-author of the study. “That was a moving experience, to be able to say that we’re watching the very first terrestrial organisms to grow in extraterrestrial materials, ever. And it was amazing. Just amazing.”

Plants grown in Lunar soil returned during Apollo missions. Credit Tyler Jones, IFAS, University of Florida

Lunar colonization seems closer than ever with these two studies. People now alive may well be the first inhabitants of a permanent lunar colony.

 

Each month, I write an astronomy-related column for the Oklahoman newspaper. On the following day, I post that same column to my blog page. 

This is reprinted with permission from the Oklahoman and www.Oklahoman.com.