Jakarta –
Even though Month having a thin atmosphere and consisting mostly of hydrogen, neon, and argon, it is not the type of gas mixture that can sustain life. But it is said that there is actually a lot of oxygen on the Moon.
It’s just that oxygen on the Moon does not exist in gas. Instead, oxygen is trapped in the regolith or layers of rock and fine dust that cover the surface of the Moon.
“Oxygen can be found in many minerals in the soil around us. And the Moon is mostly made of the same rocks that we would find on Earth (albeit with slightly higher amounts of material coming from meteors),” said John Grant, a professor of soil science. at Southern Cross University, Australia.
Minerals such as silica, aluminum, iron, and magnesium oxide, dominate the lunar landscape. All of these minerals contain oxygen, but not in a form that is accessible to our lungs.
Of MonthThis mineral exists in several different forms including hard rock, dust, gravel, and rock that covers the surface. This material is the result of the impact of meteorites that hit the surface of the Moon over countless thousands of years.
Some people refer to the surface layer of the Moon as ‘soil’. But scientists and soil experts hesitate to use this term. Land as we know it is quite a magical thing that only happens on Earth. Soil is created by a large number of organisms acting on the parent material of soil-regolith, which is derived from hard rock over millions of years.
The result is a mineral matrix that was not present in the original rock. Earth’s soil is filled with extraordinary physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Meanwhile, the material on the Moon’s surface is basically regolith in its original, untouched form.
“How much oxygen can the Moon provide? If we manage to extract this oxygen content, it turns out that quite a lot of oxygen can be produced by the Moon,” said Grant.
He explained that if we ignore the oxygen bound in the Moon’s deeper rocky material, and consider only the easily accessible regolith at the surface, we can get some approximations.
Each cubic meter of lunar regolith contains an average of 1.4 tons of minerals, including about 630 kilograms of oxygen. NASA says humans need to breathe in about 800 grams of oxygen a day to survive. So, 630 kilograms of oxygen will keep a person alive for about two years (or more).
Now let’s assume the average depth of the regolith on the Moon is about ten meters. And we can extract all the oxygen from here. That means, the top ten meters of the Moon’s surface will provide enough oxygen to support the eight billion people on Earth for about 100 thousand years.
It will also depend on how effectively we manage to extract and use the oxygen. Apart from that, this number is quite extraordinary.
“Having oxygen in Earth is something to be grateful for. We must therefore do everything we can to protect this planet and in particular its land, which continues to support all terrestrial life even without our efforts.”
Watch Videos”Oxygen Capacity on the Moon Sufficient for 100 Thousand Years“
[Gambas:Video 20detik]
(rns/fay)
– .
