The Moon Has Enough Oxygen For Billions Of Humans
The Moon has enough oxygen for billions!
This article is more than 2 years old
With the constant discourse about climate change in current events, it is only natural scientists are attempting to find a way to survive off of Earth. In the words of scientist John Grant from Southern Cross University, “We should do everything we can to protect the blue planet.” This comment came at the end of an article with The Conversation. While this is true, Grant also stated some alternate findings. Something that could prove to be instrumental if everything goes to plan. Grant posits in the article that the Moon has enough oxygen to sustain 8 billion people for 100,000 years. However, like there often is, this comes with a catch.
While this oxygen on the Moon exists, it may be a little hard to get to. This oxygen does not exist in gaseous form as it does on Earth. Instead, it is contained in what is known as regolith. Regolith is a layer of rock and dust that coats the Moon’s surface. The idea is to attempt to extract this oxygen from the regolith in order to sustain human life. This would perhaps solve many of our concerns about overpopulation and climate change. If only scientists are able to pull it off. Grant details what is needed to make this work. “The Moon’s regolith is made up of approximately 45% oxygen. But that oxygen is tightly bound into the minerals mentioned above. In order to break apart those strong bonds, we need to put in energy,” the scientist says. However, this provides some additional challenges. The energy is what Grant calls “hungry.” This means that to have the energy be sustainable, it would need to be powered by solar energy.
This idea is purely theoretical at this point, though there are strides in other arenas. NASA plans to return to the Moon in the Artemis program. Once there, the space program would like to put into place infrastructure that would allow them to further analyze the Moon. This would further the attempt to explore Mars.
NASA’s plan is also one shared by entrepreneur Elon Musk. NASA has contracts with him and both are enticed by the idea of Mars exploration. Unfortunately, recent news has put a kink in that plan. Musk has been adamant about his plans for space and implementing the SpaceX program. But over Thanksgiving weekend, an email leaked, suggesting that there may be trouble in paradise. Musk intimated that the program would risk bankruptcy if the company couldn’t achieve substantial Starship flight. As two senior vice presidents of the company left, Musk admitted this contributed to their current issue.
Musk’s obsession with space is one shared by his ex, Grimes. The couple made headlines with the birth of their child, who they named X Æ A-12 (via CNN). More recently the couple has decided to call it quits, though Musk considers the relationship only “semi” broken. Grimes has no plans to go to Earth’s Moon, but she does have plans to start a lesbian commune on Europa, the moon of Jupiter. That seems to be indicative of the issue with her relationship with Musk. However as Grimes usually is, she is set in her succinct opinion. Page Six states that this was a joke, but there is no telling with the surreal musician. Grimes appears to be set on this plan, though only a percentage of the population is invited.
