By Laurence Togetti, MSC
March 28, 2025
Can the cosmic rays that bomb the moon surface can be used to identify underground water ice deposits? This is a study and iposter presented recently on the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC), which can be received as a team of researchers, developed a new method called Cosmic Ray Lunar Sounder (Corals), which are corresponding to current radar systems. This study can help to expand the human presence on the moon, since water ice deposits are currently concentrating on the permanently shaded regions (PSRS) of the moon for the upcoming Artemis missions.
Here Universe discusses this incredible research with Dr. Christian Tai Udovicic, who at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, in relation to the motivation behind the study, the skills of corals based on depth and discoveries, the next steps for the development of corals and the way Korals can contribute to the emerging artemis missions. What was the motivation behind the study?
“The main motivation behind Corals is to search for heavily tangible water ice on the moon poles,” says Dr. Tai Udovicic today towards Universe. “We know that some ice cream in ultra-calmed craters are permanently shaded on the moon, but so far we do not see any strong evidence of layers of ice on the surface or in the upper measuring devices. In contrast to traditional radar techniques, which require a high work with high power antennas to emit radio waves that only enter a few meters, coral.
While the earth has its protective magnetic field and its ozone layer to protect the surface from harmful sun and cosmic radiation, the moon completely lacks any kind of atmosphere. As a result, the fatal radiation constantly bombs the surface, which makes future astronauts difficult to live and work there without getting proper shielding. While conventional radar instruments receive images and data by measuring the amount of reflected energy that is broken down by the lunar surface, the depth that it can reach is limited.
However, corals use a phenomenon known as the Askaryan effect. They are radio impulses that are generated by the cosmic radiation, which interacts with the moon regoliths and can be detected as deep as several dozen meters below the surface of the lunar surface. Using a series of computer models, the researchers simulated a 2-year mission with corals in the lunar oral railway to determine how many water ice cream detections could be done with the PSRS. In the end, the researchers found that corals could possibly deliver more than 100 recognitions of underground water ice in PSRs with a 1-meter-thick layer of ice. But could the number of recognitions based on the depth of the buried ice cream and/or the thickness of the buried ice cream?
“Since we do not yet know how thick or deep -buried layers of moon ice are, our team is working on a series of simulations to plan all possibilities and determine the number of recognitions in different cases,” says Dr. Tai Udovicic today towards Universe. “In our most optimistic scenarios, we should exceed 100 recognitions every 2 years. However, if the layers of ice are less different or are deeper and less common than previously assumed, we would recognize less. Regardless of this, corals would result in important insights into the point of how deep and how deep the ice is on the Lunar poles – even in the unlikely case that do not discover any ice shoemaker.”
While corals are still being developed, it has made some admirable progress in the mission of the NASA -TRL system (TRL) a real space mission to assess the maturity level of developing technology. TRL is rated 1 to 9, whereby each TRL encompasses its own steps and progresses to the next TRL. TRL 1 consists of fundamental discussions about the technology and what it could possibly do, but no hardware has yet been put together.
According to the study, the subsystems for corals should reach TRL 3 to 5 at some point in 2025, which means that a technology proof-of-concept, functional components in a laboratory environment and functional components in a relevant environment must achieve. In addition, all coral systems should reach TRL 6 by 2026, which means that it can prove a successful prototype on the ground or in space. But what will the next steps be when the corals have excluded this?
“In general, TRL 6,” demonstration in a relevant environment, “says Dr. Tai Udovicic today. “To achieve TRL 6, we will put together all components of the instrument (including individual electronics, the provision system and the software for collecting data) in a fully functional instrument that can capture a simulated cosmic radiation signal.
As already mentioned, the scientists are currently focusing on finding buried water ice in the moon PSRs, as there is a lack of sunlight because they exist on or near the moon rods, and with the 5-degree-axial inclination of the moon, sunlight never reaches the depths of some of the PSR crater. For this reason, the artemis program of the NASA focuses on landing astronauts near these PSRs with the aim of extracting the buried water ice cream and using it for drinking, oxygen or fuel. As a result, future missions will significantly reduce the amount of water in a practice, which is referred to as in -situ resource utilization (ISRU), by which in -situ -resource utilization (ISRU) reduces. If corals become reality, how could it possibly contribute to the upcoming Artemis missions or maybe Mars?
Dr. Tai Udovicic says universe today: “Corals would be a blessing of the core goal of Artemis program to characterize useful resources at the southern pole of the Mondkol by stating where it should be searched for large buried ice deposits. -Mond strategy enable. “
While the corals are developing, Dr. Tai Udovicic and his team continue the full steam and at the same time lead groundbreaking science with the aim of identifying buried moon ice in previously unexplored moon regions. This includes a recently carried out study that expands your LPSC study, in which the simulations of the team showed that their technology is only 10 centimeters thick and up to 9 meters.
How can corals identify buried moon water ice in the coming years and decades? Only time will say it, and that's why we know!
As always, they continue and continue looking!
