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A spacecraft owned by a private company, carrying a technological advancement created by UK researchers, is about to become the first of its kind to travel to the moon.
The Peregrine Mission One (PM1), created by the American space company Astrobotic, is on track to become the initial privately-funded spacecraft to successfully touch down on the moon.
This upcoming mission is expected to be one of the earliest US moon landings since the last Apollo program mission, Apollo 17, which took place over 50 years ago.
An instrument called the Peregrine Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) will be installed on board, created by a team of UK scientists from The Open University (OU) and the Science Technology Facilities Council (STFC) RAL Space. This collaboration also includes Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Washington DC.
Simeon Barber, a researcher at The Open University, played a crucial role in developing the PITMS instrument’s key sensor. Barber shared with the PA news agency, “I have been working on the foundational technology for this instrument since I first joined The Open University as a doctoral student 25 years ago.”
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“Yes, it is the result of much effort and support from our funders.”
“I am in awe of the fact that this sensor will be traveling to the moon as a component of a project led by my colleague, Barbara Cohen, at the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA.”
The device will examine the sparse atmosphere of the moon and gather information on the potential movement of water on its surface.
For a prolonged period, researchers held the belief that the moon was completely devoid of water and any traces found in samples collected during the Apollo missions were assumed to be a result of contamination from Earth.
However, more recent missions have revealed the presence of water and, in 2020, Nasa confirmed the presence of water molecules in sunlit areas of the moon.
Dr. Barber informed the PA that recent data has disproved the belief from the Apollo era that the moon was completely lacking in water.
“We have observed indications of frozen water at the frigid poles of the moon, as well as indications of water (or the hydroxyl molecule) throughout the entire surface. Additionally, recent examinations of samples from the Apollo missions have revealed small pockets of water within the lunar rock itself.”
Having a grasp on the lunar water cycle is essential for any future endeavors on the moon.
Water is a key resource for sustaining a human presence on the moon – providing drinking water as well as supporting various industrial processes.
“We are studying the movement of water molecules in the lunar exosphere, affected by the temperature changes between day and night. Eventually, they end up in the polar regions, where they slowly accumulate as frost or ice layers,” Dr. Barber explained.
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This transfer through the outermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere serves as the connection between different sources of water and their ultimate destination in frozen polar regions.
PITMS will collect data on the composition and density of the exosphere of the moon throughout the lunar day. This will enable us to better understand the current processes occurring on the moon, as well as its history and potential similarities with other planetary bodies.
He stated that he hopes the data we collect will aid in our understanding of the interaction between the gases in the moon’s extremely thin atmosphere and its surface materials.
“This will be another price in the jigsaw that helps us work out how water vapour moves around the moon, and whether one day we might be able to harvest it to turn into drinking water for astronauts working in lunar bases.”
The opportunity for the Peregrine lander to launch begins on January 8 at 7:18am in UK time.
The space vessel will launch using a Vulcan Centaur rocket, constructed by American aerospace company United Launch Alliance, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
This is a component of Nasa’s initiative, known as the Commercial Lunar Payload Services, that seeks to engage private companies in moon exploration.
Authorities report that the spacecraft may make an attempt to land on the moon on February 23.
The location it is headed towards is a region within the Gruithuisen Domes, a collection of volcanic domes honoring the German astronomer Franz von Gruithuisen.
After landing, the Peregrine lander is intended to function for approximately two weeks, equivalent to a single day on the lunar surface.
Source: independent.co.uk
