The Moon is the only natural satellite on Earth, orbiting the planet at an average distance of about 385,000 kilometers (239,000 miles).
With a diameter of just under 3,500 kilometers (approximately 2,160 miles), the cratered surface of the rocky object is one of the most recognizable materials in space.
One orbit of our planet takes the Moon 27.3 days on Earth – the same time it takes for the satellite to orbit once on its axis. As a result, half of the lunar surface is always facing the Earth.
The other half (erroneously referred to as the dark side of the moon, despite receiving the same amount of sunlight as the most familiar side) was last seen for the first time in 1959 when the Soviet probe Luna 3 back a ugly set of pictures.
The orbit is ‘quickly locked’ as a result of the Earth and Moon sliding on each other, slowing the rotation of each. The effect of lunar pressure braking is on the Earth’s own orbit, adding approximately 1.4 milliseconds to our day per century.
At the same time, the Moon is gradually stretching away from our world, adding anywhere from a few millimeters to nearly 30 centimeters to its maximum distance each year. Back when it was formed about 4.5 billion years ago, the Moon was 16 times closer, going about 24 times larger in space.
How was the Moon created?
It is widely accepted that the Moon was formed from the debris of a collision between a baby Earth and a planet about the size of Mars, later called Theia.
Early in the creation of the Solar System around 4.5 billion years ago, many planets and protoplanets they introduced would be interstellar and unstable orbits.
Effects between two groups of the same size could have damaged both, leaving a mixture of their molten minerals and heating gases undergoing a weight drag.
Lighter elements and debris could have come together to form the Moon, with denser materials from Theia settling in a heart to create a ‘regenerated’ Earth around.
Materials that brought Apollo’s missions back largely support this idea over other ideas, such as those that show that the Moon was captured by the Earth’s gravity. Reanalysis of oxygen isotopes from the lunar surface in 2020 emphasized Theia’s theory.
Deficiencies over the correct lunar age, ranging from 4.425 billion to just over 4.5 billion years ago, suggest that there may still be some wiggle space for another explanation. One is that he created from the remnants of another young world – a circle of debris called synestia.
Why didn’t people return to the Moon?
While more than 105 robotic spaceships have been launched to explore the lunar surface, only a dozen people have set foot on our nearest neighbor in space. The last one was in 1972, when Apollo 17 mission commander Gene Cernan spent a total of 22 hours exploring the Taurus-Littrow Valley.
A major obstacle to returning people to a lunar study is the ability of any government or organization to determine the cost to citizens and stakeholders. In other words, a well-funded government or space company would have to argue about value.
This was easier to do in a time of tensions between superpowers, which threatened to return to global conflict. In a race to reveal their level of technology, the US and Soviet Russia gave each other a reason to fund space programs.
Today, without this risk, programs like this would need good reasons to argue for spending more than US $ 100 billion – an estimate estimated in 2005 of what might be needed to resume human-focused lunar programs.
Pushing the limits of human property on the lunar surface also caused a number of problems related to radiation, the effects of electronic moon dust scrubbing, and large changes in temperature.
NASA’s Artemis missions could return humans in lunar missions within the next decade. And this time, we may even have the first discoveries that leave a woman in the moon dust.
Whether the program marks the beginning of a new era in space travel, or just a short-term trip down a memory series, would depend on whether they can demonstrate value in the risk and cost of attendance. long-term on our same natural satellite.
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