Research On Moon And Moon Mining - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Research On Moon And Moon Mining - amusing

The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2 , a space probe launched by the Soviet Union , made an impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, Prior to that the only available means of exploration had been observation from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about the first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes; having made his own telescope in , the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it. NASA 's Apollo program was the only program to successfully land humans on the Moon , which it did six times. The first landing took place in , when two Apollo 11 astronauts placed scientific instruments and returned lunar samples to Earth. The first unmanned landing on the far side of the Moon was made by the Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 4 in early , which successfully deployed the Yutu-2 lunar rover. Research On Moon And Moon Mining

Microbes may be the friends of future colonists living off the land on the moon, Mars or elsewhere in the solar system and aiming to establish self-sufficient homes. Space colonists, like people on Earth, will need what are known as rare earth elements, which are critical to modern technologies. But mining them on Earth today is an arduous process. It requires crushing tons of ore and then extracting smidgens of these metals using chemicals that leave behind rivers of toxic waste water.

Experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station show that a potentially cleaner, more efficient method could work on Adn worlds: let bacteria do the messy work of separating rare earth elements from rock. Cockell, a professor of astrobiology at the University of Https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/blog/story-in-italian/beauty-and-the-beast-of-advertising.php.

So they sent some of them to the International Space Station last year. Research On Moon And Moon Mining results, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communicationsshow that at least one of those bacteria, a species named Sphingomonas desiccabilis, is unfazed by differing forces of gravity. In the experiment, called BioRock36 samples were launched to orbit in match box-size containers with slices of basalt a common rock made of cooled lava.

Half of the samples contained one of three types of bacteria; the others contained just basalt. At the space station, Luca Parmitano, a European Space Agency astronautplaced some of them in a centrifuge spun at speeds to simulate Mars or Earth gravity. Other samples experienced the free-floating environment of space. Additional control experiments were conducted on the ground. After 21 days, the bacteria were killed, and the samples returned to Earth for analysis.

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For two of the three types of bacteria, the results were disappointing. But S. Cockell said, explaining that without gravity, there is no convection that usually carries away waste from the bacteria and replenishes nutrients around the cells.

Cockell said BioRock was not designed to optimize extraction. The next SpaceX cargo mission to the space station, currently scheduled for December, will carry a follow-up experiment called BioAsteroid.

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Instead of basalt, the match box-size containers will contain pieces of meteorites and fungi. They, rather than bacteria, will be the agents they test for breaking down the rock. Cockell said. Home Page World U.]