Despite the fact that astronomers have long known about the presence of oxygen on the moon, only recently the Japanese spacecraft determined the presence of this element, and even with a very interesting nature - terrestrial. The discovery was made by the SELENE (Kaguya) probe, and the head of the planetary science team, Kentaro Tedara from Osaka University, reported about it in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The team believes that this find may not only shed light on some details of the formation of our planet several billion years ago, including the state of the then atmosphere, but also explain how oxygen from Earth got to the Moon.
About five days each month, the Moon is protected from the solar wind by our planet's magnetosphere, a bubble-shaped region of space where the Earth's magnetic field has significant influence. Scientists believe that oxygen ions could have moved from our planet to the Moon during one of such periods and eventually found their refuge in the upper layer of the satellite's soil and its rock.
Geological activity taking place on Earth ultimately erased all evidence of the ancient atmosphere of our planet. However, the oxygen ions on the Moon have remained intact for several billion years. What's more, collecting samples of this oxygen could help scientists understand how Earth's atmosphere has changed over time and how these changes might have influenced the evolution of various life forms.
In addition to helping to understand the past of our planet, such research, both indirectly and directly, helps in realizing our desires for the colonization of space. After all, we need oxygen to breathe, and the Moon seems to be one of the first likely colonization points in humanity's immediate plans.
Japan wants to send an astronaut to the moon by 2030. Amazon and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos thinks the time is right for a permanent colony on the satellite. The United Arab Emirates are also expressing their desire to establish a colony on the moon.
Veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield believes colonizing the moon is the most logical next step after getting a man into orbit and landing on a satellite.
“I think if we follow the historical line, then the Moon should be the first colony, and then Mars,” - Hadfield told New Scientist.
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"We have to go back there not just to show that we can go back there, but rather to start living there."
Over the next few years, we will not know for sure if the Moon will become the first extraterrestrial home for humans, but, regardless of plans to colonize the solar system, it is clear that we have not yet finished with our natural satellite.
Nikolay Khizhnyak