All_About_Space_-_Issue_94_2020

that are being developed at the Open University, it's

all about looking at the wonderful lunar volatiles,

which is water and other things. Can we go and

extract them? Could we use them to support

astronauts on the Moon and sustain exploration

further out into the Solar System?

If we do that, it will help astronauts on the

Moon, but we will also discover all kinds of new

technology as we're doing it, which helps us back

here on Earth.

The samples that come from the Apollo missions:

how are they shared around the world?

MA: We are so grateful to NASA, because, of course,

the American taxpayers paid for the programme,

and so they could claim all of the Moon rock

they collected are theirs. But what NASA does is

that it actually evaluates the scientific merit of

each proposal, and it doesn't matter where they

are proposed from, as long as those scientific

investigations are peer-reviewed and found to be

worth supporting, it actually then loans whatever

you are requesting.

In some cases I request maybe two or three

grams of Apollo 11 rock for example, and I get it. If I

say I want five grams of this rock from Apollo 17, I

get it. So it's peer-reviewed and it's purely based on

the scientific merit of the individual proposal.

What elements are in the Moon rock?

MA: In short, the Moon rocks have all the elements

that you find here on Earth.

When you have the Moon rocks, what do you

look for and measure in them?

MA: If you're looking at a Moon rock that was

collected by the Apollo astronauts, you already

have a lot of information, because so much work

has already been done on Moon rocks that were

collected by the six missions. Whereas if you have

a lunar meteorite, you really don't know where

on the Moon it is from, so you really need to look

for everything. But to begin with you want to

understand what this rock is made up of, and then

slowly you build up a story. You want to know

how long ago it actually formed, where it has

been, what it is telling us about the Moon's

geological history. It's like piecing together different

© NASA

©Blue

Origin;

ESA

“NASA has said it wants to put humans on

the Moon by 2024, and it's ambitious. It's

got to find the funding”

piecesofevidencetobuildupyourstory,andthen

beingabletonarratetosomebodywhocansay,

“Icanfindthisf lawinyourlogic.”Thenyougo

backtothedrawingboardandfindsomemore

information,andthenyoukeepbuildingon.That's

whatwedoallthetime.

Howcanourreadersbecomeanastronaut?

LJ:Itissuchanexcitingtime,andyou'vegot

severaldifferentoptions.TheEuropeanSpace

Agency,towhichtheUKisa memberof,theyhire

astronautsabouteverytenyears,butwemight

seethatchangeinthefuture.Thosepeoplehave

technicaldegrees.Butreally,beyondthattheyare

justreallygoodatwhattheydo,andthebestadvice

toanyonewhowantstobeanastronautistogo

anddothingsyouenjoyanddothemaswellas

youcan.Thenwhenyoufindyourselfage 30 and

they'relookingforastronauts,applyandseehow

youdo.

Butyoucouldalsostartsaving.We'reatthis

timenowwheretherearecommercialcompanies

whostartedtosellticketstogointospace,whether

that'sthesuborbitalcompanieslikeVirginGalactic

takingpeopleintospaceforaboutsixminutes

andyouf loatandseetheEarth,orifyou'rereally

richyou'llstarttobeabletobuyseatstogotothe

InternationalSpaceStation.Sostartsavingyour

penniesnow,andyoumightevenbeabletobuya

ticketandgointospaceoneday.

Arethereanyplanstoexplorelandinthepolar

cratersthatdonotreceivelight?

LJ:You’llbepleasedtoknowweare.Wearegoing

totheSouthPole-AitkenBasin,wherethere'snot

muchlightandwethinka lotmorewater,whichis

reallyinteresting.TheNASAplansaretogetpeople

downtothatsouthpole;wewillseethisnew

chapteroflunarexplorationisabsolutelylookingat

thoseregionswitha lotofinterest.

right top

(clockwise):

Colonising

Mars is the

next big step

in manned

space

exploration

ESA will soon

have a lander

on the Moon

for the first

time

Tourists

will soon

be paying

commercial

companies to

take them

into space

Apollo lessons