The race to the dark side of the moon: NASA is in a sprint against Russia, China and Europe to be the first to land in the Southern Hemisphere – where there are billions of liters of water that could take space exploration to the next level

NASA and the European Space Agency are rushing to land on the moon’s previously unexplored southern hemisphere in search of water.

In a modern space race, finding water on the moon could reduce the costs of space missions by providing hydration, oxygen and much-needed fuel for rockets.

NASA hopes to establish a permanent and sustainable presence at the moon’s south pole, with the Lunar Gateway space station serving as a launch pad between Earth and the moon.

NASA will launch a space mission later this year and plans to land on the moon’s south polar region by 2026.

The European Space Agency wants to launch its Airline 6 rocket to the moon in mid-2024.

Russia, China, India and Japan also plan to send astronauts to the southern part of the moon in 2026.

It will take about a week for Odysseus to reach the moon’s surface after detaching from the Falcon 9 rocket

When astronauts landed on the moon in 1969 in a rush to defeat the Soviet Union during the Cold War, there was no indication that the moon contained billions of gallons of water.

But in 2009, NASA made the surprising discovery that there may be water on the moon after deliberately crashing a rocket into one of the moon’s craters, releasing a plume of material called hydroxyl, which is a key indicator of water . .

Astronomers have missed the telltale signs of water because crews have historically landed on the moon’s equator, where daytime temperatures reach 120 degrees Celsius (248 degrees Fahrenheit).

But temperatures at the north and south poles drop to -230 degrees Celsius (-382 degrees Fahrenheit), which is low enough for water molecules to accumulate as ice for billions of years.

The possibility of water on the lunar surface could prove incredibly beneficial to long-term plans to build a human presence on the moon.

NASA hopes to eventually establish a human presence on the moon and send astronauts to the Lunar Gateway space station (illustration of the Lunar Gateway)

NASA plans to eventually build the Lunar Gateway space station that could serve as a launch pad for astronauts to travel to and from Earth.

If there is water on the moon, it could provide astronauts with valuable resources, such as providing oxygen by splitting H2O molecules that can also be used as rocket fuel.

Water could also provide astronauts with much-needed hydration, effectively reducing the cost of lunar exploration – it currently costs $1.2 million to transport one liter of water from Earth to the moon.

If NASA manages to send astronauts to the moon’s south pole this year, the US will once again beat out other countries, including Japan and India, which plan to launch a joint mission in 2026.

China reportedly has plans in the works to land on the moon’s southern region that same year and plans to build a research station on the surface by 2030.

NASA will launch the Odysseus lunar lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday after Peregrine’s launch failed last month

These plans are all in addition to NASA’s plans for the second launch of its lunar lander, nicknamed Odysseus, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, just a month after the failed launch.

If the second attempt is a success, it will be the first time an American rocket has landed on the moon in more than fifty years.

The Falcon 9 rocket will reach an orbit of 380,000 km (236,100 miles) around Earth, and once in orbit, Odysseus will detach from the rocket and begin its journey to the southern lunar surface.

NASA expects Odysseus to travel through space for well over a week, with an expected landing on February 22.

On January 8, an attempt to launch Peregrine failed after it developed a fuel leak just hours after launch and burned up in the atmosphere ten days later as it fell back to Earth.

Stephen Altemus, the CEO of Intuitive Machines, which built the lunar lander, believes there is about an 80 percent chance that the company will successfully land Odysseus on the moon.

“We have stood on the shoulders of everyone who has been tried before us,” Altemus told CNN, adding that this is not just a one-time mission.

“It’s not a one-time operation at all,” Altemus told the outlet. “We have built a lunar program to fly to the moon regularly.”