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| Composite image from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) from Chandrayaan - 1 orbiter show water concentrated at the Moon's poles. Researchers used this data to identify the presence of Hematite on the Moon. Credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown University/USGS |
Chandrayaan-1, which rose to fame for confirming the presence of water ice in Lunar surface using it's NASA built M3 instrument to identify three specific signatures that definitively proved that there is water ice at the surface of the Moon. Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University and including Richard Elphic from NASA’s Ames Research Center led the team into this discovery.
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| M3 data showing presence of Water Ice on Moon, Credit: ISRO/NASA |
The Rusting Mystery was found out by Shuan Li using the same data from Chandrayaan's M3 instrument which showed the presence of Hematite, a common oxide of Iron found in Earth. What makes the find interesting is that Hematite requires both presences of Oxygen and Water to form. While the presence of water is supported by earlier findings, Oxygen is a rare commodity in the Moon since it doesn't have an atmosphere.
Why is it such a big mystery?
Scientists are surprised that Hematite is even forming in Moon. The conditions are not favourable at all for its formation due to Sun's constant bombardment of charged particles. Hydrogen from this charged stream of particles makes it harder for the oxidation of the Iron to happen since Hydrogen is a strong reducing agent or in simple words, it adds more electrons to the material it comes in contact with. Conversely, Oxygen takes away electrons.
It's very puzzling. The Moon is a terrible environment for hematite to form in.
says the lead author Shua Li. The author then turned to JPL scientists Abigail Fraeman and Vivian Sun to look at M3's data and confirm his discovery of hematite. The JPL scientists later confirmed the presence of Hematite on the surface of the Moon, which led them to the next question.
So, how is the Hematite forming on the Moon?
After a thorough deliberation, the scientists have identified the source of Oxygen for the hematite to form. It was Earth all along! The research paper breaks down the process in three which would be detailed below.
The Oxygen found on the moon is transported from Earth's atmosphere by the magnetic field of the planet which extends out to the Moon like a wind-sock. This transport theory is supported using the data from Japan's Kaguya spacecraft back in 2007. Another importance piece of evidence is the presence of hematite is found to be more on the Earth facing side of the Moon rather than the far side of the Moon.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Aaron Kaase Even though the Hydrogen from Sun is acting as an inhibitor to the oxidation of the iron, Earth's magnetic field negates this effect considerably.
The presence of surface-borne water molecules rather than water ice is what is aiding in the rusting. These water molecules comes in contact with the iron when fast moving dust particles mixes the molecules with loose regolith.
The Future
The team says that more research needs to be done to understand the true dynamics of this phenomenon and with Artemis mission right around the corner, it's an exciting time for Lunar science.
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| Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), Credits: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA |
JPL, which made the M3 instrument is working on an advanced version named the Lunar Trailblazer which would help in understanding Lunar environment and surface characters better. The new version would carry a High-resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) which could shed some new light on the lunar craters and hematite formation as well.
The original article was published in a JPL blog.
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