5 mysteries that Artemis missions to the moon can finally solve

For half a The humans of the century thought they understood moon: A still, airless, waterless landscape with not many puzzles to solve. But orbital instruments and robotic missions have proven otherwise. The most studied satellite in the solar system is more complex than it seems, and many fundamental questions remain open.

NASA is about to Back to the moon With the Artemis program while Artemis II The third will be satellite-orbiting missions, and Artemis IV will put astronauts on the surface for the first time since the Apollo era. The ambitious plan is to lay the foundation for a sustainable presence that will generate a continuous stream of data and samples.

Some lunar mysteries will be solved because of the abundance of samples and technology being provided. Not all the answers will come at once, and results will likely be slow in arriving, but they have never been closer to a solution. Below is a list of mysteries that can be clarified with realistic scenarios over the next ten to twenty years.

What is the origin of the moon?

The prevailing theory about the Moon’s origin suggests that it arose after a Mars-sized planet collided with the proto-Earth about 4.5 billion years ago. Some of the material ejected from this collision gathered together and solidified to form the satellite that orbits the Earth today.

However, this hypothesis is based on complex simulations and a limited set of samples returned by Apollo 50 years ago. Direct access to new, unaltered rocks, coupled with modern analytical techniques, can provide much stronger evidence. Naturally, it will be necessary to access deeper materials, such as mantle fragments exposed in craters or impact zones, and reconstruct the chronology of the ancient lunar magma ocean. The hard part is getting there; The rest is science.

How much water is there on the moon? What does it look like?

Half a century ago it was believed that the moon was completely dry. Scientists have since proven that there is ice in permanently shaded craters at the South Pole and that some water is trapped in crystalline form within minerals on the surface. The big question is how much is there and whether it could be used for future lunar bases.

One of the first tasks of future Artemis missions will be to explore these craters. If they find ice, they will need to determine whether it is mixed with regolith, whether it forms compact slabs, or whether there are purer sediments to be found. In a best-case scenario, the resource is abundant and processable for oxygen or fuel. In the worst cases, it is so sparse that extraction would be impossible.

What is the internal structure of the moon?

The Moon’s interior structure remains one of the big blind spots. The Apollo program’s seismometers detected deep and shallow moonquakes, but the data is sparse and comes from only one area. Current gravity and heat models provide a sketch of the interior, but they are far from a detailed map.

A sustained human presence will allow researchers to install seismometers in previously unstudied areas and expand global coverage. With a modern network, the resolution of the moon’s interior will increase dramatically, and scientists will be able to better determine the size of the core, the structure of the mantle, and the distribution of residual heat. It won’t be perfect, but it will be the most complete picture yet.

Why is the dark side so different?

If the Moon is a single body, why is its far side rough and bumpy while its near side is smooth and covered in basalt seas? This asymmetry is one of the great contemporary lunar mysteries. Several models try to explain this, from differences in initial heat to differences in the crystallization of a magma ocean or Earth’s gravitational effects, but none quite fit.

A return to the Moon opens the possibility of the first human expeditions to the surface of the dark side. If the samples are obtained, researchers will be able to determine their age, composition and thermal evolution, which is essential data for solving a mystery that has remained unanswered for half a century.

What happened to the lunar magnetic field?

The Apollo samples revealed something unexpected: many of them were magnetized, as if the Moon had a powerful internal dynamo. But based on what is known about its size and interior, the satellite appears too small and cold to maintain a strong global field for very long.

The new lunar era may shed light on this mystery thanks to new samples from various regions and more precise magnetic measurements. With well-dated rocks and better data on the interior, researchers will be able to reconstruct when the dynamo was present and how intense it was.

The Moon: The midpoint or space laboratory

Unlike the Apollo era, the Moon today is not the final destination, but rather the starting point for a new phase of exploration. What happens in the next decade will not only resolve outstanding mysteries; It will also redefine how we understand rocky worlds, how planets form, and how far human exploration can go when it returns to a familiar place with new questions.

Humanity may not have all the answers, but for the first time in half a century we will be asking the right questions, in the right place, with our hands full of moon rocks.

This story originally appeared on WIRED in Spanish It was translated from Spanish.