Future Lunar Explorations: Scientists fear Lunar Enivironment Contamination

•  NASA has pledged to land humans on the Moon, again, in a couple of years
  

• Scientists warns of destruction of evidences related to presence of organics on the Moon due to mining

• The fragility of Lunar surface must be preserved, opines scientists

Artist's representation of an Artemis mission, Source: NASA

 

We all are aware of how Space research agencies around the globe are racing to reach the Moon and mine the rocky body for valuable minerals. NASA already has made it clear that they would be sending humans back to the Moon sometime during 2024-25. This re-visiting of Moon is actually a forerunner to making Moon an intermediary base for future extra-planetary missions like to settle in Mars. 

However, some scientists are warning about a much less talked about concern regarding permanent human presence on the Moon. The Artemis program aims to land humans on moon and also set up a exploration base camps in the south pole of the Moon. Thinking why 'South Pole' of the Moon? For extended periods of stay, water would have to be extracted from the icy poles down South, at least for some part.

 

CONTAMINATION CONCERNS

Researchers warn that such long duration missions on the moon might permanently transform the the lunar environment. In fact the concern is not new and has been a major point in space missions. If humans unknowingly introduce microorganisms on any other celestial body, it could lead to the loss of indigenous life-forms, if any. According to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, harmful contamination of other celestial bodies is strictly prohibited. 

Debris, materials left over after mission, exhaust gases etc could have long term impacts on the Lunar environment, Source: NASA

 

Prolonged stay of humans would inadvertently introduce contaminants on the surface, scientists believe. Exhaust gases of vehicles and spacecrafts used for such missions would have a strong impact on the natural composition of the lunar regolith.

"Some parts of the moon are very fragile, especially the lunar atmosphere and the coldest parts of the lunar poles," Lucey told Space.com. "Extensive human activity may permanently alter these environments, leading to a loss of the science they can provide."

says Paul Lucey, a planetary scientist at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

 THREAT TO ASTROBIOLOGY STUDIES

With NASA and other agencies making headlines by announcing more and more missions to our sole satellite, scientists fear if the balance between development and science would be really kept. Astrobiologists eye Moon as a potential experiment ground for understanding the characteristics of primordial Earth. After the moon samples were returned, during Apollo program, and analyzed, some of the rocks even date back than the oldest rocks found on Earth.

A picture of Lunar regolith, Source: JSC, NASA

 

"Personally, I believe that the moon provides an interesting target for astrobiology, in that it can potentially help scientists fill in the gaps about what the conditions on the primordial Earth may have been like, and perhaps insights into the organic inventory that may have been available,"

 said Chris Bennett, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics/Planetary Science at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Since there is enough evidence to say that comets and meteorites have transported organics across the Solar system, it would be crucial for us to preserve the evidences on the Moon to try and answer if life really exists outside Earth.
 

The original article was published on www.space.com