On Friday, Russia launched its first spacecraft to the surface of the moon in 47 years, amid a race with major powers, including the United States, China and India, to explore more about the elements in the moon.
Russia said it would launch more missions to the moon before it explored the possibility of sending a joint mission with China, and even establishing a base there. And the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) talked about "moon gold" and discussed the possibility of excavating it.
Did the major powers care about the components of the moon?
The moon is 384,400 km away from Earth and slows down the oscillation and rotation of the Earth around its axis, which ensures a more stable climate. The moon also causes tides in the world's oceans. The current belief is that the moon was formed when a massive body collided with the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. The debris from the impact then aggregated to form the moon.
The moon's temperature varies, when it is exposed to sunlight for more than 6 hours per day, it rises to 127 degrees Celsius, while it falls in the dark to about minus 173. The outer cover of the moon does not provide protection for the celestial body from the sun's radiation.
water
NASA reported that the Indian mission (Chandrayan-1) discovered in 2008 the presence of water definitively for the first time on the moon, as it detected hydroxyl molecules scattered throughout its surface and concentrated at its poles. Water is essential to human life and can also be a source of hydrogen and oxygen, which are used to fuel missiles.
helium-3
Helium-3 is an isotope of helium that is rare on Earth, but NASA says there are estimates of a million tons of it on the moon. The European Space Agency says that this isotope can provide nuclear energy in nuclear fusion reactors without creating hazardous waste because it is not radioactive.
Rare earth metals
A research by the Boeing Company concluded that there are rare earth metals used in the manufacture of smart phones, computers and advanced technologies on the moon, including scandium, yttrium and the fifteen elements that make up the lanthanide group in the periodic table.
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