Abstract
Water ice at the lunar poles likely contains organic molecules that provide insights into the early evolution of life on Earth and cometary composition. In fact, since meteorite impacts on Earth may have delivered biogenic material to the surface of the Moon, this is the only place where we might find clues about prebiotic molecules of early Earth and the early evolution of life. In addition, this water may be utilized as drinking water and oxygen for a future human base on the Moon. Here I outline the rationale for exploring this resource, lay out evidence for large amounts of water ice to be present in the polar areas of the Moon, and provide a first design attempt on how to extract the organic molecules from the lunar ice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptions7. References
Angelis GD et al (2001) Lunar lava tube radiation safety analysis. DOE low dose radiation research program contractor workshop, Washington, DC
Armstrong J, Wells L, Gonzalez G (2002) Rummaging through Earth’s attic for remains of ancient life. Icarus 160:183–196
Arnold JR (1979) Ice in the lunar polar regions. J Geophys Res 84:5659
Baker VR et al (2005) Extraterrestrial hydrogeology. Hydrogeol J 13:51–68
Benz W, Slattery WL, Cameron AGW (1986) The origin of the Moon and the single-impact hypothesis I. Icarus 66:515–535
Binder AB (1998) Lunar prospector: overview. Science 281:1475–1476
Blair BR et al (2002) Space resource economic analysis toolkit: the case for commercial lunar ice mining. Final report to the NASA Exploration Team, CSM/JPL/CSM, SRD Case 1.0, Pasadena, CA
Bowman RS et al (1995) Sorption of nonpolar organics, inorganic cations, and inorganic anions by surfactant-modified zeolites. ACS symposium series 594. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC
Bowman RS et al (2001) Pilot test of a surfactant-modified zeolite permeable barrier for groundwater remediation. In: Smith JA, Burns S (eds) Physical and chemical remediation of contaminated aquifers. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp 161–185
Campbell BA et al (2003) Radar imaging of the lunar poles: long-wavelength measurements reveal a paucity of ice in the Moon’s polar craters. Nature 426:137–138
Clark RN (2009) Detection of adsorbed water and hydroxyl on the Moon. Science 326:562–564
Crider DH, Vondrak RR (2003) Space weathering of ice layers in lunar cold traps. Adv Space Res 31:2293–2298
Elphic RC et al (1998) Lunar Fe and Ti abundances: comparison of Lunar Prospector and Clementine data. Science 281:1493–1496
Feldman WC et al (1998a) Major compositional units of the Moon: Lunar Prospector thermal and fast neutrons. Science 281:1489–1493
Feldman WC et al (1998b) Fluxes of fast and epithermal neutrons from Lunar Prospector: evidence for water ice at the lunar poles. Science 281:1496–1500
Feldman WC et al (2000) Chemical information content of lunar thermal and epithermal neutrons. J Geophys Res 105(E8):20347–20363
Gustafson RJ (1999) Lunar polar ice methods for mining the new resource for exploration. Space resources utilization roundtable. Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO
Heiken G, Vaniman D, French B (1991) Lunar source-book: a user’s guide to the Moon. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Lawrence DJ et al (1998) Global elemental maps of the Moon: the Lunar Prospector gamma-ray spectrometer. Science 281:1484–1489
Li Z, Bowman RS (1998) Sorption of chromate and PCE by surfactant-modified clay minerals. Environ Eng Sci 15:237–245
Li Z, Bowman RS (2001) Regeneration of surfactant-modified zeolite after saturation with chromate and perchloroethylene. Water Res 35:322–326
Lowman PD (1966) Lunar resources: their value in Lunar and planetary exploration. In: G.S.F. Center, pp 1–36
Lowman PD (2000) An astrobiology reconnaissance of the south polar region of the Moon. In: Goddard Space Flight Center (Code 921), Greenbelt, Maryland
Lowman PD (2005) International Lunar observatory: suggested instrument complement. In: Goddard Space Flight Center (Code 698), Greenbelt, Maryland
Lucey PG (2009) A lunar waterworld. Science 326:531–532
Lucey PG, Taylor GJ, Malaret E (1995) Abundance and distribution of iron on the Moon. Science 268:1150–1153
Lucey PG, Taylor GJ, Hawke BR (1998) FeO and TiO2 concentrations in the South Pole-Aitken basin: implications for mantle composition and basin formation. J Geophys Res 103(E2):3701–3708
Mattson ED, Bowman R, Lindgren ER (2000) Sustained electrokinetic remediation in unsaturated soils using surfactant-coated electrodes. J Environ Eng 126:534–540
NASA (2010) NASA radar finds ice deposits at Moon’s north pole. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Mini-RF/multimedia/feature_ice_like_deposits.html. Retrieved 16 Mar 2012
Nozette S et al (1996) The Clementine bistatic radar experiment. Science 274:1495–1498
Pieters CM et al (2009) Character and spatial distribution of OH/H2O on the surface of the Moon seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1. Science 326:568–572
Ranck JM, Bowman RS, Weber JL, Katz LE, Sullivan EJ (2005) BTEX removal from produced water using surfactant-modified zeolite. J Environ Eng 131:434–442
Salazar CM (2006) Evaluation of surfactant-modified zeolites for control of cryptosporidium and giardia species in drinking water. M.S. thesis, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico, 93 p
Schulze-Makuch D et al (2002) Surfactant-modified zeolite can protect drinking water wells from viruses and bacteria. EOS 83:193–201
Schulze-Makuch D, Bowman RS, Pillai SD, Guan H (2003) Field evaluation of the effectiveness of surfactant modified zeolite and iron-oxide-coated sand for removing viruses and bacteria from ground water. Ground Water Monit Remediat 23:68–74
Schulze-Makuch D et al (2005) Venus, Mars, and the ices on Mercury and the Moon: astrobiological implications and proposed mission designs. Astrobiology 5:778–795
Spudis PD (2001) What is the Moon made of? Science 293:1779–1781
Spudis PD, Reisse RA, Gillis JL (1994) Ancient multiringed basins on the Moon revealed by Clementine laser altimetry. Science 266:1848–1851
Stacy NJS, Campbell DB, Ford PG (1997) Arecibo radar mapping of the lunar poles: a search for ice deposits. Science 276:1527–1530
Stump WR et al (1988) Conceptual design of a Lunar oxygen pilot plant: Lunar base systems study (LBSS), Task 4.2, Houston, TX
Vondrak RR, Crider DH (2003) Ice at lunar poles. Am Sci 91:322–329
Watson K, Murray BC, Brown H (1961) The behavior of volatiles on the lunar surface. J Geophys Res 66:3033–3045
Weidenschilling SJ et al (1997) Technical comments: the possibility of ice on the Moon. Science 278:144–145
Whitlock DR (1999) Recovery of Lunar ice with separation technologies’ belt separator, space resources utilization roundtable. Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO
Zubrick JW (ed) (2000) The organic chem lab survival manual. Wiley, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schulze-Makuch, D. (2013). Organic Molecules in Lunar Ice: A Window to the Early Evolution of Life on Earth. In: de Vera, JP., Seckbach, J. (eds) Habitability of Other Planets and Satellites. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6546-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6546-7_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-6545-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6546-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)