Lasers Could Lead Search for Water on Earth’s Moon

There are craters in the moon’s south pole that have remained dark for billions of years, but scientists have found evidence that the region may contain water. NASA has awarded nearly $1 million to eight university teams to develop methods to search for, and eventually extract, water from these permanently shadowed regions.

One research team, led by the Colorado School of Mines in partnership with the University of Arizona, is combining laser power with femtosats — tiny, disposable satellites — to search for water on Earth’s moon.

NASA selected eight university teams, including a joint team of researchers from the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Arizona, to develop technology to support efforts to find and harvest water at the moon’s south pole. Courtesy of NASA.

The Colorado School of Mines is exploring the concept of using lasers to power lights and machinery used for lunar exploration. To test the viability of using laser signals for power and communication in a lunar environment, the researchers will use femtosats, miniature satellites about the size of a stick of butter developed in the UArizona SpaceTREx Laboratory.

“The special thing about these guys [femtosats] is that they’re so low-cost that you can send tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands for the price of one regular satellite,” professor Jekan Thanga said. “Since the environment of the moon’s south pole is so unknown to us, disposable spacecraft are a perfect way to explore these regions without risking damage to more expensive spacecraft.”

Jekan Thanga, assistant professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and head of the SpaceTREx Laboratory at the University of Arizona, is leading the University of Arizona portion of the Artemis Student Challenge. Courtesy of University of Arizona College of Engineering.

In the proposed mission, a lander-mounted laser will touch down on the surface of the moon and launch the femtosats to different points on the lunar surface using a jack-in-the-box-like mechanism. The femtosats will receive the signal from the laser and transmit it back to demonstrate the validity of using the laser for communication.

“Students are actually building an entire system, which is very rare to do, particularly in the field of aerospace,” Thanga, who is head of the SpaceTREx Laboratory, said. “Our project is a steppingstone to building up the necessary technologies to prospect and extract water on the lunar surface.”