1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to thrilling Threads. Today, we're going to pull on 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,160 a thread that unravels basically everything we thought we knew 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:10,720 about our closest celestial neighbor. I want you to picture 4 00:00:10,759 --> 00:00:13,160 the Moon, like, actually close your eyes if you have to. 5 00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:14,240 What do you see? 6 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 2: Well, if I'm going by the standard image, the one 7 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,679 that's been in every science textbook for the last fifty years, 8 00:00:19,679 --> 00:00:23,480 it's pretty bleak, right. It is a gray, bone dry, 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,399 geologically dead world. You know, a fossil frozen in time. 10 00:00:28,519 --> 00:00:30,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, museum piece exactly. 11 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,039 Speaker 2: The prevailing scientific consensus really, since the end of the 12 00:00:34,039 --> 00:00:37,600 Apollo program, has been that the Moon's internal heat engine 13 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,399 turned off over three billion years ago. It's just been 14 00:00:40,439 --> 00:00:42,359 sitting there static ever since. 15 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: A dusty rock in the sky that influences the tides. 16 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,000 And you know, it looks pretty at night, but otherwise 17 00:00:47,039 --> 00:00:49,320 it's done. But here is the plot twist, and it 18 00:00:49,359 --> 00:00:52,200 is a massive one. That fact is no longer true. 19 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 2: It really isn't. And I don't mean we found the 20 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,119 small typo in the history books. We're looking at a 21 00:00:56,159 --> 00:00:57,520 complete rewrite of the chapter. 22 00:00:57,799 --> 00:00:59,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, we aren't talking about a minor tweak to the 23 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,799 day here, we're talking about a fundamental shift in our 24 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:07,519 understanding of lunar history. In a very short window of time, 25 00:01:07,879 --> 00:01:12,439 new samples have completely dismantled that old consensus. We've gone 26 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,079 from believing the surface was completely arid, like drier than 27 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,840 the driest desert on Earth, to finding actual water crystals 28 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:21,959 that are stable in broad daylight. 29 00:01:21,719 --> 00:01:24,359 Speaker 2: And not just water. We've moved from thinking the Moon 30 00:01:24,439 --> 00:01:26,840 was chemically simple, just a bunch of basalt and dust, 31 00:01:27,239 --> 00:01:31,920 to discovering natural graphene, which technically shouldn't be there. 32 00:01:32,079 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 1: It really shouldn't. 33 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 2: No, it shouldn't, along with exotic carbon structures that look 34 00:01:36,719 --> 00:01:38,120 like they came out of a high tech. 35 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:41,439 Speaker 1: Lab and volcanoes. We cannot forget the volcanoes. We're talking 36 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,239 about eruptions that were happening a billion years later than 37 00:01:44,239 --> 00:01:45,799 physics said was even possible. 38 00:01:46,079 --> 00:01:48,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the one that really keeps geologists up at night. 39 00:01:49,359 --> 00:01:52,400 It changes the timeline of the entire Solar system's evolution 40 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,239 in a way suggests the Moon kept its heart beating 41 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:56,920 long after we signed the death certificate. 42 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: So today we're going on a journey. This isn't just 43 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:01,760 a sign, it's update for you. It is a detective 44 00:02:01,879 --> 00:02:05,280 story It's a story about a forty year blind spot, 45 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:08,439 a dark side that we ignored, and how a systematic 46 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:11,719 approach to exploration has turned the Moon from a museum 47 00:02:12,159 --> 00:02:15,319 into well, a construction site. 48 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:19,159 Speaker 2: A viable location for human civilization. That is the shift 49 00:02:19,159 --> 00:02:21,520 we're seeing. It's gone from a place we visit to 50 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:22,800 a place we could actually use. 51 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,039 Speaker 1: So let's unpack this because understand how we got this 52 00:02:26,159 --> 00:02:28,360 so wrong for so long. We have to look at 53 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:30,879 the timeline, and specifically we have to look at the 54 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:32,719 massive gap in our resume. 55 00:02:32,439 --> 00:02:35,439 Speaker 2: The forty four year gap. That is the elephant in 56 00:02:35,439 --> 00:02:35,759 the room. 57 00:02:35,879 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 1: It sounds wild when you say it out loud, forty four. 58 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 2: Years, it's true. If you look at the history of 59 00:02:40,879 --> 00:02:44,039 lunar sample returns, it just stops abruptly. The last time 60 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,639 humanity brought a fresh sample of lunar soil back to 61 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:48,080 Earth was in nineteen seventy six. 62 00:02:48,319 --> 00:02:48,759 Speaker 1: Wow. 63 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:51,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was the Soviet Union's Luna Twani four probe. 64 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:53,919 It drilled down, brought back about one hundred and seventy 65 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:55,919 grams of dirt, and that was it. The door closed. 66 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: Nothing for four decades from the Disco era until the 67 00:02:59,319 --> 00:03:01,520 TikTok era, we just stopped bringing rocks home. 68 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 2: Exactly, from nineteen seventy six to twenty twenty, not a 69 00:03:05,439 --> 00:03:08,919 single gram of new material was returned. And this stagnation 70 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,159 had a massive impact on planetary science, my bat. It 71 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,919 meant that for nearly half a century, our understanding of 72 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,400 the Moon was frozen. In the nineteen seventies, all our theories, 73 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,599 all our models about how the Moon formed and evolved, 74 00:03:21,879 --> 00:03:25,759 were based on that specific cache of old material collected 75 00:03:25,759 --> 00:03:28,319 by the Apollo astronauts and the Soviet probes. 76 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: And here's where it gets really interesting and honestly a 77 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:35,120 bit frustrating, because those samples, as precious as they were, 78 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:37,159 were incredibly. 79 00:03:36,439 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 2: Biased, extremely biased, and you know, to be fair to 80 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:42,840 the Apollo planners, they went where it was safe. Think 81 00:03:42,879 --> 00:03:45,639 about where they landed. The Apollo missians and the Soviet 82 00:03:45,719 --> 00:03:48,759 probes mostly landed around the equator, on the near side 83 00:03:48,759 --> 00:03:49,319 of the Moon. 84 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,759 Speaker 1: The flat spots, the easy landings, right. 85 00:03:51,879 --> 00:03:55,080 Speaker 2: But scientifically, this is the equivalent of landing a spaceship 86 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,159 in the middle of the Sahara Desert, taking a few 87 00:03:57,159 --> 00:04:00,439 scoops of sand, flying home, and then declaring the entire 88 00:04:00,479 --> 00:04:02,639 Earth is made of sand. There is no water there 89 00:04:02,639 --> 00:04:04,199 are no forests, it's just dunes. 90 00:04:04,479 --> 00:04:07,039 Speaker 1: That is such a great analogy, because if you only 91 00:04:07,039 --> 00:04:09,560 saw the Sahara, you'd be right to assume Earth is 92 00:04:09,599 --> 00:04:13,080 a dry, dead rock. So we built a global model 93 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,079 of a whole world based on a local biased data. 94 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,040 Speaker 2: Set precisely, and it's even worse than just sand. The 95 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,759 area where Apollo landed is chemically weird. It's a region 96 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:28,199 called the Procellarum creep terrain creep like the word creep, Yeah, 97 00:04:28,319 --> 00:04:33,759 kreep stands for potassium rare earth elements and phosphorus. Okay, 98 00:04:33,959 --> 00:04:38,120 it's a heat producing radioactive anomaly. So we basically landed 99 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:39,839 in the one spot on the Moon that is hotter 100 00:04:39,879 --> 00:04:42,360 and weirder than the rest, and we assumed the whole 101 00:04:42,399 --> 00:04:43,040 Moon was like that. 102 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:44,639 Speaker 1: We took the anomaly and made. 103 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 2: It the standard we did. Scientists knew that the data 104 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,199 was biased, of course they aren't oblivious, but they had 105 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:53,519 no new rocks to test, so the models remained unchallenged. 106 00:04:53,759 --> 00:04:56,120 It became dogma because there was nothing to contradict it. 107 00:04:56,319 --> 00:04:58,160 Speaker 1: Right, because you can write all the papers you want, 108 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:00,519 but without a new rock to put under the mic chroscope, 109 00:05:00,519 --> 00:05:05,000 it's just theory. Enter the Chinese lunar exploration program. Now 110 00:05:05,240 --> 00:05:08,560 this is where the story shifts from stagnation to acceleration. 111 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:10,920 They didn't just decide to flowing a rocket up there 112 00:05:10,959 --> 00:05:11,720 and see what stuck. 113 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:15,879 Speaker 2: They had a plan, a very methodical long game engineering roadmap. 114 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:20,319 It's often referred to as orbit land return. And what's 115 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,759 impressive is the discipline. This played out over twenty years. 116 00:05:24,000 --> 00:05:25,879 Speaker 1: So let's walk through the phases. Step one is. 117 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 2: Orbit right, this was change one and changed two back 118 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,519 in twenty seven and twenty ten. Their job wasn't to 119 00:05:31,519 --> 00:05:34,639 touch the surface yet, it was to scan it. Okay, 120 00:05:34,959 --> 00:05:38,720 they created high resolution three D maps of the entire 121 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,480 lunar surface. They were essentially surveying the property before trying 122 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:44,959 to build on it. They found landing sites that previous 123 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:47,720 errors of exploration had missed entirely because they just had 124 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:48,680 better eyes in the sky. 125 00:05:48,959 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 1: Then comes phase two, the landing getting boots or wheels 126 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:53,399 on the ground. 127 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,199 Speaker 2: Change three and twenty thirteen put the jade rabbit rover 128 00:05:56,319 --> 00:05:58,680 on the surface. That was the test to see can 129 00:05:58,759 --> 00:06:01,519 we survive the lunar night? Can we communicate? But then 130 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,639 came change four, and that was the historic one. A 131 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:06,000 far side the first landing in history on the far 132 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:08,319 side of the Moon in the Von Carmon crater. 133 00:06:08,319 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: And didn't they grow something there? I remember seeing headlines about. 134 00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 2: A leaf they did. That's a detail that often gets 135 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:17,600 overlooked in the heavy physics talk, but it's symbolically huge. 136 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,000 They conducted the first biological growth experiment on the Moon. 137 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:22,279 Speaker 1: Wow. 138 00:06:22,439 --> 00:06:25,439 Speaker 2: Yeah, they had a sealed mini biosphere, a little canister 139 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,160 with air, water and soil nutrients and managed to sprout 140 00:06:29,199 --> 00:06:30,360 cotton seeds. 141 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,639 Speaker 1: Cotton on the Moon. That is wild. 142 00:06:33,519 --> 00:06:37,079 Speaker 2: Briefly didn't last long, but yes, a plant germinated on 143 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,439 the Moon. It proved that with the right protection, biology 144 00:06:40,519 --> 00:06:44,680 is possible there. The radiation didn't kill it instantly. That's incredible, 145 00:06:44,680 --> 00:06:47,240 it is. But the real game changer for our discussion 146 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,759 today is Phase three return. 147 00:06:49,639 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: Because you can do science with a robot, but a 148 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:53,439 robot isn't a lab precisely. 149 00:06:53,959 --> 00:06:57,120 Speaker 2: You cannot fit a synchrotron or a massive electron microscope 150 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,959 inside a rover. Those machines of the size of building. 151 00:07:00,519 --> 00:07:02,920 If you want to find hydrated minerals or atomic scale 152 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,639 structures like graphene, you need the equipment we have here 153 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:06,040 on Earth. 154 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:07,959 Speaker 1: You have to bring the dust back to the scientists. 155 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 2: You do, And that was changey five and twenty twenty. 156 00:07:11,399 --> 00:07:13,000 This is the mission that broke the seal. 157 00:07:13,319 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: It broke the forty four year drought. They targeted a 158 00:07:16,839 --> 00:07:19,800 region called Oceanis Prosellum. 159 00:07:19,279 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 2: The Ocean of Storms. 160 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: Which sounds incredibly dramatic. 161 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 2: It is dramatic. It's a vast lava plane that looked 162 00:07:26,879 --> 00:07:31,800 much younger than the areas Apaula visited. They landed, drilled, scooped, 163 00:07:31,959 --> 00:07:35,040 and brought back nearly two kilograms of fresh material. 164 00:07:35,199 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 1: And that is when the surprises started coming, one after another. 165 00:07:38,199 --> 00:07:39,959 Oh ye, it was like opening a time capsule and 166 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,319 finding out the history books were wrong exactly. Let's start 167 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,759 with the water, because for years the headline was the 168 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:50,839 moon is dry like bone dry. But changey five brought 169 00:07:50,879 --> 00:07:53,000 back these well, these glass. 170 00:07:52,519 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 2: Beads, impact glass beads. Wow, this is one of those 171 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:57,680 discoveries that makes you smack your forehead because they were 172 00:07:57,720 --> 00:07:59,040 staring us in the face the whole time. 173 00:07:59,120 --> 00:07:59,959 Speaker 1: What exactly are they? 174 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:02,399 Speaker 2: But if you look at lunarthoil under a microscope, it's 175 00:08:02,439 --> 00:08:05,279 not just jagged rock. A lot of it is these tiny, 176 00:08:05,399 --> 00:08:08,759 perfect spheres of glass. Some are microscopic, some are the 177 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:09,560 size of a hair. 178 00:08:09,639 --> 00:08:10,519 Speaker 1: And how do they form? 179 00:08:10,879 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 2: Violence? Pure violence? Yeah, the Moon has no atmosphere to 180 00:08:13,839 --> 00:08:17,560 protect it, right, So tiny micrometeoroids dust grains, moving at 181 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:19,959 tens of thousands of miles per hour are constantly slamming 182 00:08:19,959 --> 00:08:23,079 into the surface. When they hit, they generate a flash 183 00:08:23,079 --> 00:08:26,199 of extreme heat. It melts the silicon dust instantly. That 184 00:08:26,279 --> 00:08:29,800 molten rock flies up, cools down a midflight, and hardens 185 00:08:29,800 --> 00:08:32,159 into a perfect sphere before it even lands. 186 00:08:32,399 --> 00:08:35,080 Speaker 1: Okay, so it's basically rain made of glass. 187 00:08:34,879 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 2: Essentially, And Apollo found these too. We've known about the 188 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,440 beads since the sixties, but the Chinese researchers looked at 189 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:44,960 them differently. They analyze the chemical interaction between these beads 190 00:08:45,039 --> 00:08:45,840 and the solar wind. 191 00:08:46,039 --> 00:08:48,639 Speaker 1: The solar one is basically the Sun shooting particles at 192 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:49,399 us right. 193 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 2: Yes, a stream of charged particles, mostly protons, which are 194 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,600 hydrogen nuclei. On Earth, our magnetic field blocks it. That's 195 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:59,919 why we aren't dead, thankfully, very thankfully. But on the Moon, 196 00:09:00,399 --> 00:09:03,159 the surface takes the full brunt of it. These hydrogen 197 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:06,519 atoms have been bombarding the soil for millions of years. 198 00:09:06,279 --> 00:09:08,559 Speaker 1: So you have hydrogen hitting these glass. 199 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 2: Beads, and the beads act like a sponge. It's a 200 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,240 process called ion implantation. The glass is made of silicate, 201 00:09:15,399 --> 00:09:18,840 so it has oxygen and its chemical structure. The high 202 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,759 energy hydrogen penetrates the outer layer of the glass, bonds 203 00:09:22,759 --> 00:09:26,759 with the oxygen inside, and creates hydroxyl or water molecules 204 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:28,440 inside the glass matrix. 205 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:30,159 Speaker 1: Wait, let me get this straight. It's not a puddle. 206 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,240 It's water trapped actually inside the glass. 207 00:09:33,399 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 2: Right, it's locked in the molecular structure. But here's the 208 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,799 fascinating part. It's not static. It breathes. 209 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: The moon breathes in. 210 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,159 Speaker 2: A chemical sense. Yes, the analysis show that these beads 211 00:09:44,159 --> 00:09:48,480 participate in a dynamic water cycle. The absorbed hydrogen. When 212 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:51,399 the supply is high and when the temperature fluctuates, like 213 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,080 during the intense heat of the lunar day, they can 214 00:09:54,159 --> 00:09:57,320 release that water back into the exosphere. It just diffuses out. 215 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: So that explains the mystery readings we've had have seen 216 00:10:00,639 --> 00:10:03,759 signs of water moving around the moon, hopping around the surface, 217 00:10:03,759 --> 00:10:06,440 but they couldn't find the reservoir exactly. 218 00:10:06,519 --> 00:10:09,120 Speaker 2: We were looking for ice, but the reservoir was the 219 00:10:09,159 --> 00:10:13,240 dirt itself, and the scale is staggering. Based on the 220 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,080 density of these beads in the samples, researchers estimate the 221 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,799 top soil across the entire Moon could be holding up 222 00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:21,639 to two hundred and seventy billion tons of water. 223 00:10:21,879 --> 00:10:26,519 Speaker 1: Two hundred and seventy billion tons. That is that's hard 224 00:10:26,519 --> 00:10:29,000 to wrap my head around. That changes everything about exploration. 225 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,759 Speaker 2: It completely rewrites the strategy. Before this. The assumption was 226 00:10:32,879 --> 00:10:34,720 if we want water, we have to go to the 227 00:10:34,759 --> 00:10:37,840 South Pole. We have to go into those dangerous, permanently 228 00:10:37,919 --> 00:10:41,440 shadowed craters where the sun never shines, and mine rock 229 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,360 hard ice in total darkness at minus two hundred degrees. 230 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:48,799 Speaker 1: Which sounds terrifying and expensive and really risky. 231 00:10:48,879 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 2: It is. It's an engineering nightmare. But this discovery implies 232 00:10:52,279 --> 00:10:54,120 you might be able to get water just by heating 233 00:10:54,159 --> 00:10:56,240 up the dirt sitting right next to your landing site. 234 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,200 Almost anywhere on the Moon. You collect the beads, apply heat, 235 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:00,399 and release the vapor, so. 236 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,799 Speaker 1: Instead of a mining operation in a deep crater, you 237 00:11:02,919 --> 00:11:04,440 just have a microwave on the surface. 238 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:07,600 Speaker 2: Ideally, yes, the Moon has been manufacturing its own water 239 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,279 supply for billions of years and storing it in little 240 00:11:10,279 --> 00:11:12,080 glass batteries. We just have to tap them. 241 00:11:12,159 --> 00:11:15,399 Speaker 1: That is incredible. But if the glass beads were a surprise, 242 00:11:15,519 --> 00:11:18,879 the next discovery feels like a paradox because finding water 243 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:21,879 and glass is one thing. Finding a water crystal sitting 244 00:11:21,919 --> 00:11:23,960 in the sun shouldn't be possible. 245 00:11:24,039 --> 00:11:28,320 Speaker 2: The impossible crystal ulm one ULM one unknown lunar mineral one. 246 00:11:28,399 --> 00:11:30,639 Speaker 1: It sounds like a sci fi movie title, The Mystery 247 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:31,399 of ulm one. 248 00:11:31,759 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 2: It does, but chemically it has a proper name. Ammonium 249 00:11:35,519 --> 00:11:37,440 magnesium chloride hexahydrate. 250 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,639 Speaker 1: Okay, let's unpack that mouthful, because I hear hydrate in there. 251 00:11:40,799 --> 00:11:44,879 Speaker 2: The keyword is indeed hexahydrate. It means that for every 252 00:11:44,919 --> 00:11:48,320 single unit of this mineral, there is six full water 253 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:51,919 molecules locked into its crystalline structure. Up to forty one 254 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,480 percent of the mass of this crystal is water. Is 255 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:55,679 a hydrated salt. 256 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:57,720 Speaker 1: A rock made of forty percent water. But wait, this 257 00:11:57,799 --> 00:11:59,919 was found in that oceanis procellar in place? Right? 258 00:12:00,039 --> 00:12:00,240 Speaker 2: Yeah? 259 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: Just sunlit, it gets hot, like boiling hot, very. 260 00:12:03,039 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 2: Hot, up to one hundred and twenty degrees celsius. 261 00:12:05,360 --> 00:12:08,639 Speaker 1: So why didn't the water just boil away. Physics says 262 00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:11,320 surface water in a vacuum under the sun should sublime, 263 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,399 turn to gas and escape instantly. If I poured a 264 00:12:14,399 --> 00:12:16,200 cup of water on the Moon, it would boil and 265 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,159 freeze at the same time and just vanish. 266 00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 2: That was the assumption. We thought the sunlit surface had 267 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,960 to be bone dry, because any water would have evaporated 268 00:12:25,039 --> 00:12:29,200 billions of years ago. Ulm one proves that assumption wrong. 269 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: How does it survive? Is it magic? 270 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:34,879 Speaker 2: It's the cage theory. The crystal lattice of the mineral 271 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:37,360 acts like a protective cage. Think of it like a 272 00:12:37,399 --> 00:12:41,279 molecular jail cell. Okay, The magnesium and chlorine atoms form 273 00:12:41,279 --> 00:12:44,919 a rigid structure and they lock the water molecules inside 274 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:48,000 so securely that they can withstand the vacuum and the 275 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:49,519 temperature spikes of the lunar day. 276 00:12:49,960 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: So the water wants to leave, but the crystal won't 277 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:52,679 let it. 278 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 2: Exactly, the bonds are too strong. It tells us that 279 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,720 water can survive in the mid latitudes as long as 280 00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,840 it is chemically bound. It's hiding in plain sight. 281 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:01,879 Speaker 1: So again, we don't necessarily have to hide in the 282 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:05,399 dark polar craters, but there was a bonus in this rock, 283 00:13:05,519 --> 00:13:06,919 Wasn't there You mentioned ammonia. 284 00:13:07,039 --> 00:13:11,279 Speaker 2: Yes, the ammonium part of the name. Ammonia contains nitrogen. 285 00:13:10,919 --> 00:13:12,320 Speaker 1: And nitrogen is a big deal. 286 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:15,320 Speaker 2: It is incredibly rare on the Moon. The Moon is 287 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,799 very poor in volatiles like nitrogen, but nitrogen is vital 288 00:13:18,840 --> 00:13:22,639 for two things humans really need agriculture and rocket fuel. 289 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:24,639 Speaker 1: Fertilizer and fuel exactly. 290 00:13:25,159 --> 00:13:28,759 Speaker 2: Finding a mineral that contains both water and nitrogen is 291 00:13:28,799 --> 00:13:32,799 like stumbling upon a prepackaged survival kit. It's a resource jackpot. 292 00:13:32,919 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: One rock gives you water to drink and fertilizer for 293 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:37,039 your plants. 294 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:40,039 Speaker 2: Or fuel for your return trip. It turns a single 295 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,600 rock type into a multipurpose resource. It also implies that 296 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,000 volcanic gas releases in the Moon's past were rich in 297 00:13:48,080 --> 00:13:50,919 these volatiles, and they got trapped before they could escape. 298 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,960 It's a geological record of a much wetter, more active 299 00:13:54,039 --> 00:13:55,320 history than we imagined. 300 00:13:55,519 --> 00:13:58,440 Speaker 1: Speaking of active, let's talk about the factory floor. Because 301 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:00,879 finding water is one thing, find out when graphene is 302 00:14:00,919 --> 00:14:02,159 something else. Entirely. 303 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,399 Speaker 2: This was a shock to the material science community. I 304 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,240 remember reading the paper and thinking, surely they made a mistake. 305 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:11,000 Speaker 1: I mean graphene is that super material, right, single layer 306 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,480 of carbon atoms two hundred times stronger than steel, superconductive. 307 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:16,360 We make it in high tech labs. 308 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:21,360 Speaker 2: Usually. Yes, it requires very specific, very controlled conditions to 309 00:14:21,399 --> 00:14:24,480 get those carbon atoms to align perfectly. You don't expect 310 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,399 to find it lying in the dirt on a dead moon. 311 00:14:26,679 --> 00:14:28,720 It's like walking into a desert and finding a perfectly 312 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:29,480 formed iPhone. 313 00:14:29,559 --> 00:14:32,559 Speaker 1: But in twenty twenty four a team analyzed the Changy 314 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:36,720 five soil and found naturally formed few layer graphene and 315 00:14:36,879 --> 00:14:38,120 carbon graphite flakes. 316 00:14:38,159 --> 00:14:40,919 Speaker 2: They did they used advanced spectroscopy to confirm it. It 317 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:43,080 wasn't contamination from the lander. It was real. 318 00:14:43,559 --> 00:14:46,879 Speaker 1: How just how the Moon isn't supposed to have carbon? 319 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,879 Speaker 2: Is it? Well, first we have to address the carbon 320 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:52,320 pre myth. The leading theory of moon formation is the 321 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:57,039 giant impact hypothesis. Earth gets hit by a Mars sized object, 322 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,679 debris forms the Moon. That high heat event should have 323 00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:01,759 boil away all the. 324 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: Carbon, so the Moon should be carbon depleted exactly. 325 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 2: But the graphene proves otherwise. The carbon is there, and 326 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:11,720 it's organized. The atoms are arranged in that specific high 327 00:15:11,799 --> 00:15:13,279 quality hexagonal lattice. 328 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,759 Speaker 1: So it didn't just crash land there on a meteorite. No. 329 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 2: The researchers believe it is an autocoorthanois process. 330 00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: It is a scrabble word autothonus. 331 00:15:21,159 --> 00:15:23,559 Speaker 2: It means it formed in situ, It formed right there. 332 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,519 The recipe seems to be volcanic carbon gases erupting from 333 00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:29,480 the interior mixing with solar wind protons. And this is 334 00:15:29,559 --> 00:15:31,720 key using iron in the soil as a catalyst. 335 00:15:31,799 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 1: Iron is a catalyst. 336 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 2: Yes, the soil contains iron bearing minerals. When the hot 337 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:40,360 gas hit the iron, the iron helps convert the carbon 338 00:15:40,399 --> 00:15:44,240 gas into solid graphite and graphene. It basically organized the 339 00:15:44,279 --> 00:15:45,080 carbon atoms. 340 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:47,879 Speaker 1: So the Moon is a chemical factory. It was literally 341 00:15:47,919 --> 00:15:51,200 manufacturing advanced materials billions of years ago. 342 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:55,039 Speaker 2: It really is. And the implication is huge. Carbon is 343 00:15:55,039 --> 00:15:58,080 the backbone of organic chemistry, it's the backbone of life, 344 00:15:58,639 --> 00:16:02,639 but industrially is the backbone of future electronics and construction. 345 00:16:03,399 --> 00:16:06,000 If there's a native carbon cycle on the Moon, if 346 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,519 we can mine graphite or graphene, we don't have to 347 00:16:08,559 --> 00:16:09,320 ship it from Earth. 348 00:16:09,399 --> 00:16:11,799 Speaker 1: We can build with it. We can make wires, we 349 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:13,960 can make structural supports exactly. 350 00:16:14,159 --> 00:16:17,639 Speaker 2: We stop being importers and start being manufacturers. And speaking 351 00:16:17,639 --> 00:16:19,679 of mining, we also have to mention change site. 352 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,039 Speaker 1: Why another new mineral. 353 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:24,039 Speaker 2: Yes, a phosphate mineral discovered in the same samples, and 354 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:26,559 this one contains trapped helium three AH. 355 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: Helium three the sci Fi fuel, the stuff they were 356 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:30,240 mining in the movie Moon. 357 00:16:30,559 --> 00:16:33,759 Speaker 2: It's the holy grail for fusion energy. It's rare on 358 00:16:33,759 --> 00:16:37,000 Earth because our atmosphere blocks it, but the solar wind 359 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:40,320 deposits it on the Moon. Finding it trapped in a 360 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:44,200 native mineral just strengthens the economic argument. You have water, 361 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:46,720 you have nitrogen, you have graphene for construction, and you 362 00:16:46,759 --> 00:16:48,120 have helium three for energy. 363 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:50,120 Speaker 1: It's like the Moon was designed for us to set 364 00:16:50,159 --> 00:16:53,440 up shop. It's almost eerie how perfect the inventory is. 365 00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:56,440 But everything we've talked about so far, all these discoveries 366 00:16:56,519 --> 00:16:58,200 came from samples on the near. 367 00:16:58,120 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 2: Side, correct the side that face. 368 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:02,919 Speaker 1: But the Moon has a dark side. 369 00:17:02,679 --> 00:17:06,079 Speaker 2: The far side, And that brings us to change E six, 370 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,319 which just concluded in June twenty twenty four. 371 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:12,039 Speaker 1: This was the logistical flex, wasn't it. I remember watching 372 00:17:12,039 --> 00:17:15,240 the launch coverage and thinking this is getting complicated. 373 00:17:15,279 --> 00:17:18,519 Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. It was a masterclass in orbital mechanics. Up 374 00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:20,960 until change six, every gram of soil we had ever 375 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,359 analyzed Apollo Luna changey five came from the near side. 376 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,279 We had zero physical evidence from the other half of the. 377 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,400 Speaker 1: World because you can't talk to it right. 378 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:33,319 Speaker 2: The Moon is tidally locked. The same face always points 379 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:35,599 to Earth. If you go to the back, the Moon 380 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,319 itself acts as a massive shield. It blocks your radio waves. 381 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:41,440 You can't control a rover if you can't send a signal. 382 00:17:41,519 --> 00:17:42,680 Speaker 1: It's a complete blackout. 383 00:17:43,039 --> 00:17:43,720 Speaker 2: Lets you cheat? 384 00:17:43,799 --> 00:17:44,559 Speaker 1: How did they cheat? 385 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 2: They put a mirror in the sky, a mirror well, 386 00:17:47,319 --> 00:17:50,240 a relay satellite called quick qu two. They put it 387 00:17:50,279 --> 00:17:53,759 in a specialized halo orbit around a lagarage point behind 388 00:17:53,759 --> 00:17:57,039 the Moon. It's a point in space where gravity balance 389 00:17:57,119 --> 00:18:00,240 is out. From that vantage point, the satellite could see 390 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,759 both the far side of the Moon and the Earth 391 00:18:02,799 --> 00:18:04,079 at the same time, so. 392 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:06,559 Speaker 1: It's a bank shot. They bounced the signal off the 393 00:18:06,599 --> 00:18:08,559 saddlert to hit the rover exactly. 394 00:18:08,599 --> 00:18:11,119 Speaker 2: It acted as a bridge that allowed them to maintain 395 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,039 constant contact with the lander on the hidden side. 396 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: That is incredibly cool engineering. So they established calms and 397 00:18:18,039 --> 00:18:19,799 they land. Where do they go? 398 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 2: They went to the biggest hole in the Solar system, 399 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:24,359 the South Pole Aitken Basin. 400 00:18:24,519 --> 00:18:26,279 Speaker 1: Is that the really dark spot at the bottom. 401 00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:29,359 Speaker 2: It's a massive impact structure. It's twenty five hundred kilometers 402 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:33,440 wide and incredibly deep. It's so deep that the impact 403 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:36,799 likely punched through the crust and exposed the Moon's mantle. 404 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: So if you want to see the guts of the Moon, 405 00:18:38,519 --> 00:18:39,240 that's where you go. 406 00:18:39,519 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 2: Precisely. It's a window into the deep interior. But it 407 00:18:43,519 --> 00:18:45,960 also helps us address the lunar dichotomy. 408 00:18:46,039 --> 00:18:47,839 Speaker 1: The dichotomy, that's the fancy way of saying. The two 409 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:49,440 sides look totally different. 410 00:18:49,319 --> 00:18:52,400 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, Why is the near side covered in dark 411 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,119 lava sees the man in the moon, while the far 412 00:18:55,279 --> 00:18:59,960 side is just rugged, bright highlands with almost no lava. 413 00:19:00,079 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 1: It's like two different planets glute together. 414 00:19:02,079 --> 00:19:04,920 Speaker 2: It is so change. She six grabs these rocks from 415 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,720 the far side, brings them back, and the scientists rushed to. 416 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,599 Speaker 1: Date them radiometric dating. 417 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,799 Speaker 2: Counting the decay of radioactive isotopes, and the number they 418 00:19:12,799 --> 00:19:15,799 got was a shock two point eight billion years old. 419 00:19:15,839 --> 00:19:17,920 Speaker 1: Okay, help me out here, to me two point eight 420 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:20,319 billion years sounds ancient. Why is that a. 421 00:19:20,279 --> 00:19:23,440 Speaker 2: Shock to a geologist? That is shockingly young for the Moon. 422 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,759 The standard model said the Moon died stopped erupting about 423 00:19:26,759 --> 00:19:28,559 three point five or four billion years ago. 424 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,519 Speaker 1: So this is a billion years later than expected. 425 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,240 Speaker 2: Yes, now we knew the near side stayed active longer, 426 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,359 maybe until two billion years ago, but we had an 427 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:38,759 excuse for the near side. 428 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 1: Remember creep the radioactive blanket. 429 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,559 Speaker 2: Exactly, we basically said, oh, the near side stayed hot 430 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,160 because it has a radioactive heater underneath it, but the 431 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,279 far side doesn't have that. The far side is cold, 432 00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,440 it has no heat producing elements, and crucially, it has 433 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:55,920 a much thicker crust. 434 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:57,599 Speaker 1: So it's harder for love of to punch through. 435 00:19:57,799 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 2: Exactly, it's a thicker lid with no heater underneath. By 436 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,400 all the laws of physics we were using, it should 437 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:05,759 have been dead billions of years before the near sight. 438 00:20:06,079 --> 00:20:09,039 It should have frozen solid almost immediately, but it wasn't. 439 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,960 It wasn't. The two point eight billion year date proves 440 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,279 that the Moon's internal engine was incredibly resilient. It stayed 441 00:20:15,279 --> 00:20:18,640 active on hard mode even with the thick crust and 442 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:21,400 no radioactive boost. It managed to erupt. 443 00:20:21,559 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: What does that mean for our understanding of the Moon. 444 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 2: It forces the rewrite of thermal evolution models. The Moon 445 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:31,640 wasn't just cooling down passively. There was something else keeping 446 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,519 it hot or allowing magma to rise, maybe mantle overturn, 447 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:39,200 maybe convection currents we didn't account for. It transforms the 448 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:43,000 Moon from a static rock into a dynamic, evolving world 449 00:20:43,079 --> 00:20:45,559 that fought to stay alive long after we thought it 450 00:20:45,559 --> 00:20:46,160 had perished. 451 00:20:46,319 --> 00:20:49,559 Speaker 1: It's amazing how just one sample from a different location 452 00:20:49,759 --> 00:20:51,240 can break the whole model. 453 00:20:51,319 --> 00:20:54,160 Speaker 2: That's the Sahara desert problem again. We finally looked at 454 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,640 the rainforest or the mountains and realized that the Sahara 455 00:20:56,759 --> 00:21:00,200 wasn't the whole story. We're finally seeing the Moon as 456 00:21:00,279 --> 00:21:02,680 a global system, not just the front yard we can 457 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:03,319 see from Earth. 458 00:21:03,519 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: So let's take a breath and look at the big picture. Here. 459 00:21:05,799 --> 00:21:09,799 We have water beads, we have hydrated crystals, we have graphene. 460 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,920 We have young volcanoes on the far side. What does 461 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:13,480 this all mean? 462 00:21:13,839 --> 00:21:16,079 Speaker 2: If you connect the dots, you realize these aren't just 463 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,000 random science facts. They aren't just trivia. They are a catalog, 464 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,079 a catalog for what for construction. The Chinese Lunar roadmap 465 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,920 wasn't just about discovery. It was about the endgame, the ILRS. 466 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,319 Speaker 1: The International Lunar Research Station. 467 00:21:30,319 --> 00:21:33,599 Speaker 2: The planned permanent base. When you look at the discoveries, 468 00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:36,759 they map perfectly to the needs of a base. It's 469 00:21:36,759 --> 00:21:39,160 almost like they were checking items off a shopping list. 470 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:40,480 Speaker 1: Walk me through that list. 471 00:21:40,599 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 2: Okay, to survive, you need life support, water and oxygen. 472 00:21:46,319 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: We have the glass beads in ULM one. We have 473 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:50,079 trillions of tons of water. 474 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 2: You need energy to run your lights and your rover. 475 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,039 Speaker 1: We have helium three and solar power. 476 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:57,839 Speaker 2: You need materials to build shelter because the radiation will 477 00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:59,279 kill you if you stay outside. 478 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:01,960 Speaker 1: We have graph and the regolith itself, and. 479 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:03,559 Speaker 2: You need logistics to coordinate it all. 480 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: We have the relay satellite network that Change six proved 481 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,480 works exactly. 482 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:13,279 Speaker 2: We are transitioning from exploration to utilization. We aren't just 483 00:22:13,319 --> 00:22:17,640 looking anymore. We're assessing the inventory and then next steps reflect. 484 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: That what's coming next. Because the roadmap doesn't stop it 485 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:21,079 Change six. 486 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:24,039 Speaker 2: No, it accelerates. Change seven is up next around twenty 487 00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:27,559 twenty six. It's hunting for the massive water ice deposits 488 00:22:27,599 --> 00:22:30,559 at the south pole, not the beads, but the big 489 00:22:30,559 --> 00:22:32,400 sheets of ice and the shadowed. 490 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:33,599 Speaker 1: Craters, the glaciers of the moon. 491 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:37,160 Speaker 2: Right, if they find substantial ice sheets, that's game over. 492 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,400 That's your reservoir. But changy eight, that's the one to watch. 493 00:22:40,559 --> 00:22:44,559 Why roughly twenty twenty eight. It's a technology demonstrator. Its 494 00:22:44,599 --> 00:22:47,319 mission isn't just a look at rocks. Its mission is 495 00:22:47,319 --> 00:22:49,960 to three D print bricks using lunar soil. 496 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,440 Speaker 1: Three D printing bricks on the moon, So robots building houses. 497 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,799 Speaker 2: Yes, they're going to try to melt the soil and 498 00:22:56,839 --> 00:23:00,240 shape it into interlocking bricks. If that works, if you 499 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:02,839 can build structures from the dirt under your feet, the 500 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,640 cost of a moon based drops strictly. You stop shipping 501 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,480 concrete from Earth, you stop shipping steel, You just ship 502 00:23:08,519 --> 00:23:08,880 the printer. 503 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: It's the ultimate living off the land. 504 00:23:11,319 --> 00:23:15,519 Speaker 2: I sru in situ resource utilization. That is the buzzword 505 00:23:15,519 --> 00:23:18,240 of this century for space travel. It means you don't 506 00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,279 bring your lunch, you grow it there. You don't bring 507 00:23:20,319 --> 00:23:21,440 your house, you build it there. 508 00:23:21,559 --> 00:23:23,799 Speaker 1: It really feels like we are standing on the precipice 509 00:23:23,839 --> 00:23:26,279 of a new era. For my entire life, the Moon 510 00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:28,960 has just been there a nice night light. But now 511 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:30,119 it feels like a destination. 512 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:32,759 Speaker 2: We are. The Moon is no longer a rock in 513 00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:36,440 the sky. It's an eighth continent. It has resources, it 514 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:38,680 has history, and it has a future. It's a land 515 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:39,839 mass waiting to be developed. 516 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,039 Speaker 1: It's funny we started this but talking about how the 517 00:23:42,079 --> 00:23:43,519 Moon was a fossil. 518 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,480 Speaker 2: And we ended up describing a chemical factory. 519 00:23:46,279 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 1: A factory that has been running quietly for eons, just 520 00:23:49,559 --> 00:23:50,799 waiting for us to clock in. 521 00:23:51,039 --> 00:23:52,319 Speaker 2: That's a beautiful way to put it. 522 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,960 Speaker 1: So to wrap this up, we've gone from the Sahara 523 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,559 bias to a world of water cycles and carbon loops. 524 00:23:58,839 --> 00:24:01,200 We've seen that looking at the dark side sheds the 525 00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:01,960 most light. 526 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 2: And we've learned that our models are only as good 527 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,480 as our samples. We have to keep going back. 528 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:08,440 Speaker 1: But here is the question I want to leave you 529 00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:11,519 with today. We've talked about the science and we've touched 530 00:24:11,519 --> 00:24:14,799 on the construction. But now that we know the resources 531 00:24:14,839 --> 00:24:19,240 are there, the water, the fuel, the building blocks, it 532 00:24:19,279 --> 00:24:21,680 seems inevitable that we are going back to stay. 533 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,400 Speaker 2: It does. The economics are starting to make sense. 534 00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:28,519 Speaker 1: But if the Moon is this resource rich eighth continent. 535 00:24:28,799 --> 00:24:32,039 Who actually owns these resources once we start mining them? 536 00:24:32,079 --> 00:24:35,279 Speaker 2: Ah? The ultimate question, the one the lawyers love, is it. 537 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,599 Speaker 1: First come, first served? If you three D print a 538 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,400 base on a deposit of helium three? Is that yours? 539 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,680 Does fining the water make you the owner of the water? 540 00:24:45,079 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 2: Space law is going to get very complicated, very fast. 541 00:24:48,559 --> 00:24:51,039 The Outer Space Treaty says no one can own the Moon, 542 00:24:52,119 --> 00:24:55,759 but it doesn't explicitly say you can't use the resources. 543 00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:58,160 It's a gray area the size of a planet. 544 00:24:58,319 --> 00:25:00,319 Speaker 1: I have a feeling we'll be doing a Thrilling Thread's 545 00:25:00,319 --> 00:25:02,279 show on that topic sooner rather than later. 546 00:25:02,519 --> 00:25:04,400 Speaker 2: I think you're right, the gold rush is coming. 547 00:25:05,039 --> 00:25:06,680 Speaker 1: Let us know what you think in the comments. Who 548 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,480 owns the moon and does the idea of a living 549 00:25:09,519 --> 00:25:12,039 moon make you want a visit or stay safely here 550 00:25:12,079 --> 00:25:15,559 on Earth? Thanks for listening to Thrilling Threads until next time.