[meteorite-list] Moon Water: A Trickle of Data and a Flood of Questions

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon Mar 6 11:34:47 2006
Message-ID: <200603061622.k26GMdd18784_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/060306_lunar_ice.html

Moon Water: A Trickle of Data and a Flood of Questions
By Leonard David
space.com
06 March 2006

NASA is in the process of scripting how best to plant new bootprints on
the Moon and take advantage of lunar resources that could prolong human
stays on that barren ball of rock.

While the Moon is one desolate world, it could turn out to be a faraway
faucet of sorts.

Robotic spacecraft - both the Pentagon's Clementine (1994) and NASA's
Lunar Prospector (1998-1999) missions - point to the promise that the Moon
is a literal watering hole for crews.

Permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles, called "cold traps,"
might be repositories of water ice. More importantly, this reserve could
be converted to oxygen, drinkable water, even rocket fuel.

However, water ice on the Moon is far from being a slam dunk deduction.
There is ongoing dispute about whether or not such frozen caches of
water reside in sunshine-deprived lunar craters.

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2008 will dive into the issue.
Future robotic Moon landers are expected to plop down at polar regions
for a spot check too. In the interim, space lawyers are at the ready to
voice legal opinions on tapping into any water ice found.

Unique illumination conditions

There is "intriguing evidence" that, potentially, water ice on the Moon
exists in fairly significant amounts, said Ben Bussey, a lunar expert at
the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel,
Maryland.

NASA's Lunar Prospector clearly identified an enhanced signal of
hydrogen - an indication that nobody has any qualms with, Bussey told
SPACE.com. "But there's the argument ... is it hydrogen or is the
hydrogen in a form of water ice?"

The Pentagon's Clementine lunar orbiter yielded data that, some
scientists contend, gave a positive indication for ice inside
Schackleton crater, situated at the Moon's south pole.

Yet there is controversy about that interpretation, Bussey noted, adding
that Earth-based radar of that area, some argue, reflect more a signal
of rocks and not ice.

"The [lunar] poles represent the biggest unknowns," Bussey said, leaving
the scientific community hungry for new information. "We definitely know
that the poles have unique illumination conditions with the potential
for permanent sunshine. We know that there's lots of permanent shadow
which could contain ice."

In the big scheme of things, looking for ice does not, in itself, merit
going back to the Moon.

"But if it's there ... and it is there in enough quantity to be
extractable and usable, then I can see there's a potential where you
want to use it. It makes your life easier," Bussey said. On the other
hand, he questioned, if it is there, is it in a form that makes it
viable to be used?

Cometary frost

Apollo 17 moonwalker and geologist Harrison Schmitt questions the
availability of water ice at the lunar poles.

For one, NASA's Lunar Prospector detected what must be largely solar
wind hydrogen, Schmitt told SPACE.com. The only areas where water ice
might be contributing to that signal are places where permanent
shadowing exists near the poles, he said.

"Indeed, cometary volatiles - including water ice - probably precipitate as
frost in permanent shadow at the lunar poles," Schmitt said, something
that has been shown theoretically by a number of researchers. The
longevity of this frost, however, is subject to the rate of
micrometeorite and solar wind erosion, he noted.

"Unless the cometary frost, including water ice, is buried quickly by
fortuitous impact ejecta or is partially protected in a very deep crater
with permanent shadow, it will probably disappear in a geologically
short time," Schmitt advised.

No doubt, finding cometary frosts in deep, permanently shadowed craters
will be scientifically very interesting, the moonwalker said. "However,
I would not yet count on finding economically significant water ice
deposits."

Schmitt said that potentially substantial amounts of solar wind hydrogen
are present everywhere on the Moon along with helium-4, helium-3, carbon
and nitrogen. Hydrogen and helium concentrations are clearly higher in
polar regions independent of whether there is cometary water ice.

"So those of us interested in lunar helium-3 fusion power are very
interested in more precise mapping of hydrogen distribution as a
surrogate for helium-3. We hope that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
will provide such information," Schmitt said.

Touch the water

The prospect of finding water ice at the Moon's poles is indeed
arguable, said Larry Taylor, Director of the Planetary Geosciences
Institute at the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at the
University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Taylor, like other lunar experts, said it's imperative that we "touch
the water." Doing so is the only way to know if water ice is there in
the first place. And if truly present and accounted for, then other
questions follow: How much, what quality, and how hard to process?

"The only way to solve this major question" of water ice on the Moon,
Taylor emphasized, is not from orbit.

"There does not appear to be any instruments that are completely
definitive, even from 'near' remote sensing, such as on a simple
lander," Taylor told SPACE.com. "It is not only necessary to determine
that there might be water ice, but the quantities and composition."

The makeup of any lunar water ice, coupled with some oxygen isotopes,
would go a long way toward assigning an origin to the water, Taylor
added, be it hydrous meteorites, comets, or water vapor yielded through
the interaction between solar wind and impact-melted lunar surface material.

Customary law

Let's say that, indeed, water ice is on hand at the Moon. Use of that
material from a legal point of view is seen by some space law experts as
contentious.

For instance, could the amount of water ice be extremely limited? So
much so that one nation sucking up all of this precious resource could
be viewed by other nations as tantamount to a land grab?

"There will be legal implications when the time comes if and when water
ice is finally extracted," said Harold Bashor, editor-in-chief of the
Journal of Diplomatic Language for the American Graduate School of
International Relations and Diplomacy in Paris, France. He is author of
"The Moon Treaty Paradox" (Xlibris Corporation, 2004).

"According to international law found in the well-ratified United
Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967, celestial bodies such as the Moon
may be used and exploited, but they cannot be appropriated by any
country," Bashor said. "Although the subsequent Moon Treaty has only
been ratified by eleven nations, (the United States is not a signatory)
it cannot be overlooked since it embodies many of the provisions of the
comprehensive Outer Space Treaty and customary law as well."

Peaceful purposes

Bashor said that if a country should decide to utilize lunar water
ice - or any other resource - on Earth's celestial neighbor, it would be
necessary to inform the United Nations of the activities concerned with
such exploitation. Secondly, any use of the Moon must be for peaceful
purposes, he said.

"For scientific purposes, as example, a country could use water,
minerals and other substances in quantities appropriate for the support
of their missions as long as the existing balance of the lunar
environment would not be disrupted," Bashor advised.

Furthermore, since the Moon is to be explored and exploited for peaceful
uses, Bashor said, countries may not interfere with the activities of
any other countries on the Moon, and any conflict must be reported to
the United Nations.

No rights of ownership

Activities on the Moon may be pursued freely without any discrimination
of any kind, and countries can place vehicles, personnel, stations, and
facilities anywhere on or below the surface.

"However, neither the surface nor the subsurface of the Moon can become
the property of any country or its citizens. Also, there are no rights
of ownership for any natural resources in place," Bashor told SPACE.com.
"This is generally interpreted to mean that a country may not claim
ownership of any resources until they have been extracted. Yet, any
extraction is required to be for the benefit of mankind according to the
Common Heritage of Mankind principle."

Additionally, the Moon Treaty of 1979 provides that an international
regime should be established when any exploitation of the Moon is "about
to become feasible," Bashor observed. "The purpose of this regime would
be the orderly and safe development, management, and sharing of the
natural resources of the Moon," he said.

While the use of water ice would be permitted in order to support any
mission on the Moon, "any further use would be scrutinized especially if
it was for military or other illegal uses," Bashor concluded.

Without protest

"Whether lunar ice exists or not, its legal status can be a good
intellectual exercise," suggested Virgiliu Pop, a PhD candidate at
Glasgow University in Scotland and a specialist in space law focused on
property rights in outer space.

Pop is author of Unreal Estate: The Men who Sold the Moon (Exposure
Publishing, 2006).

Interestingly enough, Pop pointed out, the legal status of ice right
here on Earth is not completely settled. There is no set answer to the
question who owns Earth's South Pole, he advised.

In Antarctica, there is a small sliver, reaching down to the South Pole,
claimed at the same time by the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina.
The 1959 Antarctic
Treaty may have frozen territorial claims, but that document did not
clarify who
owns what in Antarctica, Pop said.

"Nonetheless, ice is used by scientific expeditions. Yet, in Antarctica,
ice is abundant. At the same time, while Antarctic icebergs have no
clear legal status either, several
icebergs have been mined for ice without any protests," Pop explained.

Free for all or free-for-all?

The principal sources of ice in the solar system are the comets. It's
the view of Pop that comets and smaller asteroids should not be
considered celestial bodies proper. Thus, they would not be subject to
national appropriation. They would be treated as floating ore bodies, he
suggested, "like icebergs on Earth."

Regarding lunar ice, the Outer Space Treaty provides that the Moon is
free for use by all States, Pop added, who are granted free access to
all of its areas. At the same time, States Parties are to conduct all
their lunar activities with due regard to the corresponding interests of
all other States Parties to the Treaty.

"It is of my opinion that astronauts will not encounter any legal
troubles when using the native materials of the Moon - ice included - to
support their exploration," Pop told SPACE.com. "My own interpretation
is that anybody is allowed to use lunar ice, provided there is enough
for others to use."
Received on Mon 06 Mar 2006 11:22:39 AM PST