Hubble space telescope maps minerals on the moon

New Scientist

Image: jurvetson

Geologists have used the Hubble Space Telescope to study minerals on the moon. It might be one small step for them, but it’s a giant leap towards building a lunar outpost.

Space scientists are keen to map the concentration of the titanium-dioxide-rich mineral ilmenite on the moon’s surface, says Jim Garvin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Oxygen production from TiO₂-enhanced lunar soils could potentially make breathable oxygen and even oxidiser for rocket fuel.”

UV images of the lunar surface show patterns that correlate with the concentration of TiO₂ measured in lunar samples collected by the Apollo missions, and so a map of the UV variations can be used to create a map of TiO₂ abundance. However, Earth’s atmosphere interferes with UV readings, so the team used Hubble to take UV images of a small area of the lunar surface that included the landing sites of the Apollo 15 and 17 spacecraft.

When the team compared the UV data with the TiO₂ levels from the Apollo sampled, they found that low-lying basaltic soil has 6 to 8 per cent TiO₂ by weight, while the highland soils contain only 2 per cent (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 34, p L13203). “Our well-calibrated UV images will act as a pathfinder for mapping by NASA’s 2008 Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,” says Garvin.