Where did Moon get its water from? Scientists discover big lunar secret
The solar wind — a continuous flow of high-speed protons (hydrogen nuclei) emitted by the Sun—bombards the Moon's airless surface at over a million miles per hour. Unlike Earth, which is shielded by a magnetic field and atmosphere, the Moon's surface is directly exposed.When these protons collide with the lunar soil, or regolith, they capture electrons and form hydrogen atoms. These hydrogen atoms then bond with oxygen atoms abundant in lunar minerals, creating hydroxyl (OH) and water (H2O) molecules just millimeters deep in the soil.To confirm this process, Nasa scientists Li Hsia Yeo and Jason McLain designed a unique experimental chamber that simulated the Moon's vacuum environment while bombarding Apollo 17 lunar soil samples with a beam mimicking solar wind. By baking the samples beforehand to remove any Earth-based moisture, the team ensured uncontaminated results.advertisementAfter exposing the dust to simulated solar wind equivalent to 80,000 years of lunar exposure within days, they detected a distinct infrared signature near 3 microns—a telltale sign of water and hydroxyl molecules forming in the samples. This discovery has big implications for Nasa's Artemis program, which plans to establish a sustainable human presence at the Moon's South Pole, where much of the water is believed to be frozen in permanently shadowed craters.The finding suggests that water on the Moon is not just a relic but may be continuously replenished by solar wind interactions, creating a dynamic lunar water cycle.'The exciting thing here is that with only lunar soil and a basic ingredient from the Sun, which is always spitting out hydrogen, there's a possibility of creating water,' said Yeo.This insight could revolutionise future lunar exploration by enabling astronauts to harvest water directly from the lunar surface, supporting life and fuel production beyond Earth.Must Watch
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
When Coke and Pepsi Fought for Soft Drink Supremacy in Space
In space travel, the firsts are often what matter most: the first woman in orbit and the first man to walk on the moon, or, less famously, the first time astronauts grabbed a wobbling satellite with their hands. Yet in the 1980s, America's two biggest soft drink companies raced for another milestone: to serve the first fizzy drink in orbit. One of the greatest excesses of the cola wars happened as NASA was transitioning from the prestige-driven Apollo program toward our modern era of commercial spaceflight, which has been dominated by companies willing to land a Nokia 4G/LTE communications system on the moon, or launch a mannequin-driven Tesla Roadster into space. To the Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo , the commercially minded shuttle program was a perfect marketing opportunity. Forty years on, a NASA astronaut remembers positive moments of the soft drink space race. 'We did our job and it was kind of fun,' said Loren Acton, a space shuttle payload specialist. But others who faced the cola giants' rivalry were less charitable. 'Of all the things that were done on the shuttle, the one that caused the most aggravation was the goddamn cola war,' said James M. Beggs, the NASA administrator in the early 1980s. Beggs died in 2020, but was quoted in a 1986 interview by Joseph Trento, a reporter, in Trento's book 'Prescription for Disaster: From the Glory of Apollo to the Betrayal of the Shuttle.' The cola companies earned Beggs' frustration. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo would take their space race to the upper levels of NASA, and all the way to the White House. Though spaceflight is difficult, the companies' earthbound rivalries proved even more difficult to overcome. The Competition Turned Political NASA in the 1980s was on the cutting edge of technology, and was working with major private companies to launch their satellites and conduct space-based research using the space shuttle fleet. But when it came to what it fed its astronauts in orbit, the agency had work to do. Food on the shuttle had progressed past the cubes and tubes of early spaceflight, but NASA still relied on freeze-dried and thermostabilized foods to feed astronauts. 'NASA was trying to make the food situation on the shuttle a little bit more what they would have called normal,' said Tony England , a NASA astronaut who served as a mission specialist. Beverages were a particular concern. NASA wanted astronauts to drink more fluids while in space, and the shuttle's lack of refrigeration made drinks less appealing. That made the agency receptive when Coca-Cola proposed testing zero-gravity carbonated beverages as a possible way to improve drinks on the shuttle, decades before astronauts could have espresso in orbit, or drink it out of a special aroma-preserving cup. 'When the Coca-Cola people approached NASA, they were willing to say, 'Yes, we'll try one,'' said England, who became involved in the cola project. The soft drink giant had its own motives. In 1984, Coca-Cola was riding high on the rollout of Diet Coke. But it was morning again in America, and the Atlanta-based company was rebuilding the influence it had lost with the White House when Ronald Reagan sent Jimmy Carter home to Georgia. The cola test with NASA was one of the company's Reagan-era charm offensives. The company declined to comment about the episode. In June 1984, Brian Dyson, the Coca-Cola North America president, said in a speech that the company was negotiating with NASA to install vending machines on 'future space stations and shuttles,' according to United Press International. Dyson had unknowingly created a problem for Coca-Cola. The company's proposal to NASA was a research project that fell outside federal bidding rules. But his remarks had left the impression of a commercial relationship with NASA. That quickly got the attention of PepsiCo (which declined to comment for this article). Max Friedersdorf, PepsiCo's vice president for public affairs and a former aide to Reagan, pointed this out in a letter to Beggs, the NASA administrator, in which he insisted that his company be given a chance to compete with Coca-Cola to supply carbonated refreshment to orbiting astronauts. He didn't stop there. 'You should be further advised that PepsiCo Inc. is strongly identified with the Republican Party and the support of President Reagan and his administration,' Friedersdorf wrote. 'At the same time, Coca-Cola was a very strong supporter and advocate of President Carter and is closely identified with the Democratic Party.' The barrage worked. A month later, NASA wrote to both companies that the project had been terminated. Building the Space Can But NASA remained interested, and a few months after the Pepsi uproar had subsided, officials reached out to Coca-Cola to rekindle the project. However, the agency had a long list of technical requirements that the Coke container for the test needed to meet in order to fly on the shuttle. Consuming soda in space presents numerous technical challenges. Astronauts usually drink water or rehydrated powdered drinks from soft plastic pouches, which aren't suitable for containing carbonation. Soda needs a rigid container, with a dispensing valve that lets astronauts drink without releasing a sticky spray that can be dangerous inside a delicate spacecraft. 'They're sending the sugar syrup as it is,' Xulei Wu, a food scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a recent interview of the impracticality of drinking soda in microgravity. 'It's not a powder you add water to dissolve, so it's in the liquid form.' In spaceflight, weight dominates all considerations. Every gram costs fuel and limits which other payloads can be carried to orbit. A modern, dehydrated space drink packet weighs 12 grams. Any rigid container that Coca-Cola could have devised would have been much heavier, even before it was filled with liquid soda. It also had to meet the safety requirements for putting a potentially hazardous, pressurized vessel in a spacecraft. Coca-Cola, undeterred by NASA's requirements, developed its container in earnest from late 1984 through early 1985. The project seemed to mean more to the company than just marketing. Dyson's claim about space vending machines was part of a thumping speech to his bottlers that Coca-Cola had become the leading soft drink maker in America. Going to space demonstrated the company's greatness. His speech was the cola wars' version of President John F. Kennedy announcing the Apollo program. The development process was elaborate and costly. The company said it devoted the equivalent of hundreds of days of staff work and spent $250,000 (in 1985 dollars) on the container. The Coke team expected that its soda would launch on an April 1985 shuttle flight. Then, weeks before it was to blast off, Johnson Space Center grounded the cola test from the shuttle flight. NASA lawyers in Washington told Coca-Cola that the officials in Houston had not followed the correct procedures for flying the containers or notifying the company's competitors. 'The Coke/Pepsi/NASA Debacle' Coca-Cola would later blame a call to Beggs from PepsiCo executives for NASA's sudden reversal. Worse yet, Friedersdorf, whose letter on behalf of PepsiCo had sunk the project in 1984, had rejoined the White House staff in 1985. But Coca-Cola kept working behind the scenes to book its container on a July 1985 spaceflight and, more important, exclude PepsiCo from the flight. Then Coca-Cola committed another blunder when it publicly announced it would be flying on the shuttle, before NASA had agreed. After Sen. Sam Nunn , D-Ga., intervened on Coca-Cola's behalf, Beggs wrote in a letter to the senator that the agency had 'a policy of avoiding, wherever possible, the use of the NASA reputation and name to endorse a product sold to the general public.' To Beggs, Coca-Cola's behavior had revealed its real motivation. 'It appears quite evident, therefore, that the offer to NASA to provide the technology is for advertising purposes,' he wrote. Unofficially, the NASA administrator was less diplomatic about the affair. 'All right, goddamn it, if they want to pay their way, we'll fly, but no publicity in space,' he told Trento, the reporter, for his 1986 book. 'We won't put their name on the side of the shuttle.' That opened the door for PepsiCo. Four days after Coca-Cola completed its deal with NASA, PepsiCo signed an identical agreement. After all of that effort, PepsiCo's containers would be sitting next to Coca-Cola's on the same shuttle. Coca-Cola had spent almost a year designing its container to NASA's exacting requirements. It must have assumed PepsiCo wouldn't be able to close the developmental gap in time for the July flight. That frantic dash was described by Roger Enrico, a top company executive, in his 1986 memoir 'The Other Guy Blinked: How Pepsi Won the Cola Wars.' It began with reviving a zero-gravity can concept pitched to the company by another company in 1983, and culminated in an improvised microgravity test aboard a company private jet that made a sharp dive, resulting in an engineer covered in soda. But PepsiCo's tight timeline meant that it had to rely on off-the-shelf components. 'The Pepsi can, as far as I could tell, was just a shaving cream can,' said Acton, the astronaut, who held the device during a training exercise. 'In fact, the Pepsi can had a stick-on label.' With just over two weeks until launch, Coca-Cola and its allies appealed directly to the White House to get PepsiCo off the flight. White House staff members, trying to make sense of the ever-intensifying scrum of senators, cola executives and lobbyists, compiled a memo chronicling the episode, called 'The Coke/Pepsi/NASA Debacle.' With a full understanding of the yearlong administrative melee over a soft drink marketing stunt, the White House opted to stay out of it, leaving the decision to NASA. Beggs shook off Coca-Cola's last-ditch lobbying attempt to keep PepsiCo grounded. 'You know I am just a poor dumb government official,' he recalled telling Michael Deaver, a Coca-Cola lobbyist who had recently been Reagan's deputy chief of staff. 'I can't discriminate between colas.' Coca-Cola was out of options. PepsiCo would fly. Launch Day The July flight was designated STS-51F, and would use the shuttle Challenger to get to orbit. Its crew of seven had a mix of impressive credentials and experience: a band of test pilots, Ph.D.s and former Apollo astronauts. They were going to orbit to conduct serious experiments in solar physics, astronomy and atmospheric science. The busy schedule would have the crew members working alternating 12-hour shifts to maximize what they could achieve in orbit. And sandwiched between all that science, they would test the first cola in space. Rumors of the political tussle had reached the astronauts. The cola test was clearly a marketing stunt, and the soft drink companies' battle was filtering down into the training for the mission. 'The rules kept changing,' Acton said. There was to be no photography, then photography, then video. Their aggravation with the constantly changing rules for the cola test bubbled over during one prelaunch briefing. As the astronauts discussed technical details, two NASA lawyers interrupted and started to, once again, explain the rules for the cola test. Acton said he lost his temper and threw the lawyers out of the briefing. 'We've got work to do and we really don't want to hear this kind of garbage,' he recalled saying. The astronauts tried to preserve some professional dignity as they provided input on the procedures for the test. 'We didn't want to be in a position where we could say we like the Coke better than the Pepsi or the Pepsi better than the Coke,' England, the astronaut, said. To avoid the question of preference, they split the test between two teams. One would test the Coke container and the other would test the Pepsi container. No one would test both. 'We were asked to do this, we prefer not to,' England recalled. 'But as long as we weren't in a position to compare, we thought it was probably OK.' When it came time to launch, PepsiCo officials were celebratory, handing out T-shirts to NASA staff members with their project's slogan, which referenced NASA's, and perhaps humanity's, greatest achievement: 'One giant sip for mankind.' After a scrubbed launch attempt, the flight got off the ground on July 29, 1985. Things did not go as planned. Five minutes after liftoff, Challenger's center engine automatically cut off. The temperature sensors meant to protect the engine from catastrophically overheating had failed. The least risky option to keep the crew safe was a maneuver known as 'abort to orbit,' which would put the flight at a lower altitude than planned. The already busy mission became more of a scramble. Timings and positions had to be recalculated for the lower orbit. Messages flew between mission control and the shuttle. For all the hurried adjusting, the cola test never dropped off the schedule. 'They wanted to get it over with, not carry that one on another mission,' England said of NASA. A number of hours into the flight, orbiting more than 100 miles above Earth, the astronauts, some sick from weightlessness, drank the first soda in space. To recognize Coca-Cola's initiative in starting the project, the astronauts tested the company's container first, pushing a button to spray the soda in their mouths. It was warm and sometimes frothy, but recognizably Coke, ending with a slight metallic taste from the dispensing mechanism. Hours later, astronauts on the other shift tested the Pepsi cans. The test also afforded some of the astronauts a bit of fun in their busy days, as they squirted small balls of Pepsi out of the containers and let them drift about the cabin. 'You could take these Pepsi balls and let them fly in weightlessness, and blow on them, and get them to spin,' Acton said. Without gravity to guide their ascent, the soda's bubbles collected at the center of the floating globules. Yet the experience of drinking fizzy drinks in space wasn't entirely pleasant. In microgravity, gas in soda can't escape the stomach like it would on Earth, causing an uncomfortable phenomenon called 'wet burps.' The same forces that keep the fizz in the center of a floating cola ball also keep the carbonation mixed with the contents of one's stomach. They come out in equal measure during a burp. Coke's honor as the first cola in space was a Pyrrhic victory, one that NASA instructed the crew not to discuss with the ground while they were in space. Once the shuttle landed, the cola companies sniped at each other. 'We consider ourselves the leader in the industry,' a Coca-Cola spokesperson crowed. A PepsiCo spokesperson retorted that if the astronauts had tasted Coke first, 'you can be sure they had to wash it down with a Pepsi.' But the shuttle's harrowing launch dominated the news, overshadowing the companies' swipes. 'The whole Coke and Pepsi thing was forgotten by the media,' Acton said. 'And as far as I can recall, it wasn't ever talked about. I was always grateful for that.' For all the political combat leading up to the flight, the cola test was largely ignored by those involved. A NASA webpage on the mission refers ambiguously to 'technology research.' Coca-Cola mentions its plaudit as being the first cola in space, and its subsequent orbital soft drink research in the 1990s, only sparingly. PepsiCo refers to the event briefly in a historical timeline. And in the 40 years since the soft drink space race, carbonated beverages have never found a regular place on the NASA menu. (This article first appeared in The New York Times.)
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Mission next: Isro sets sights on building rocket as high as 40-storey, among tallest in world
1 2 Hyderabad: The Indian Space Research Organisation ( ISRO ) is gearing up to develop one of the tallest rockets ever built by man -- a nextgen launch vehicle as high as a 40-storey building (over 120 meters) to put a 75,000 kg (75-tonne) payload in low Earth orbit (LEO), ISRO chairman V Narayanan said here on Tuesday. "Do you know what the capacity of a rocket (launcher) is? The first launcher, which was built by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Ji, had a 17-tonne lift-off mass and was capable of placing 35 kg in LEO," Narayanan said at the 84th convocation ceremony of Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad. "Fifty years ago, we were in the phase of launching the first satellite. Now, we are shoulder to shoulder with every developed nation," Narayanan said. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Gold Rates Today in Hyderabad | Silver Rates Today in Hyderabad Elon Musk 's SpaceX currently holds the distinction of building the world's tallest rocket – Starship – which stands nearly 122 meters tall. On India's ambitions to put man on the moon, the ISRO chief said that, as suggested by PM Modi during his meeting with Shubhanshu Shukla, ISRO is in the process of developing a pool of 40 to 50 astronauts for India's future space missions. This even as ISRO is already in advanced stages of its Gaganyaan human space flight mission, where Indians astronauts will travel to space on an Indian rocket for the first time. "The first unmanned mission is planned very shortly... PM recently rolled out the broad envelope of where our space programme has to reach in the coming years. The Chandrayaan-4 programme is already approved and this mission shall be planned as a sample-return mission," Narayanan added. "An Indian has to land on the moon and return safely by a fully indigenous moon mission by 2040," he added. By 2035, a 52-tonne mass space station - Bhartiya Anthariksha Station (BAS) - is going to be built by the ISRO, reiterated Narayanan, adding that the initial modules in space for the same shall start as early as 2027. He also revealed key events that unfolded prior to Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla's successful journey to the International Space Station (ISS) and back, which was the first step in the ambitious Gaganyaan mission , and said that had the rocket taken off as per the initial schedule it would have been a "catastrophic failure". While the original launch of SpaceX Falcon rocket was planned for June 11, he said a day prior to the launch, a team led by him, that was camping at the Kennedy Space Centre, detected a leak in the rocket, pushing the launch date to June 25. "When there was a discussion, 14 questions were asked but none of them were answered satisfactorily, including where the leak was. Finally, we put up a demand on behalf of the Indian govt and the leakage was fixed. Based on the insistence of Indians, the Indian education system, and ISRO training, the fault was corrected. Today we have accomplished a safe mission, not only for Shubhanshu Shukla but also for three other international astronauts," he explained. These key missions apart, ISRO is also working on the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) (Shukrayaan) in which a spacecraft will be sent to study Venus. ISRO also plans to launch the Technology Demonstration Satellite (TDS) and GSAT-7R, an Indian military communication satellite specifically designed for the Indian Navy to replace the existing GSAT-7 (Rukmini) satellite, this year among other initiatives. He said India's premier space agency is also working on executing a significant mission in the next three months — of placing a 6,500 kg communication satellite built by the US, into orbit using an Indian rocket. Other projects in the pipeline include the Navigation with India Constellation system (NAVIC) satellite and the N1 rocket. The ISRO Chief also said that the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, which was launched on July 30 this year to monitor the changes in Earth's ecosystems, is working "fantastically well". "In fact, this morning, we saw that the first product has come from the satellite, which is going to be useful for the entire global community," he added. The agency is also developing a G20 satellite for the G20 countries, which aims to help the countries of the global south. Pointing out that India has 55 satellites in orbit right now, Narayanan said the number will increase threefold in another three to four years. On the occasion, a degree of Doctor of Science ( was also conferred upon the ISRO director making him the 50th recipient of this honorary doctorate from OU. MSID:: 123388926 413 | Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Hindustan Times
7 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Rural roots, cosmic dreams: 75 shortlisted students from Pune ZP schools to visit ISRO & NASA
In a first-of-its-kind initiative to bridge the gap between rural and urban access to advanced science education while inspiring rural students to dream big and pursue careers in science and technology, the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP) in collaboration with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) on August 19 finalised a list of 75 students who will soon get the rare opportunity to visit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Washington, DC. Of the 75 shortlisted students, 50 will visit ISRO while the remaining 25 will visit NASA. This is part of the 'Curious Rural Student Exposure Programme' launched on April 25, 2025, through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IUCAA and the Pune ZP. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who attended the MoU signing, praised the initiative saying, 'Visits to ISRO and NASA will not only educate but also inspire our rural students to dream big.' Shubhra Renuse, a student from ZP Primary School, Pabe, is also among the 75 shortlisted students. (HT) The programme comprised a three-stage selection process, beginning with a large-scale written examination held on July 5 across 141 centres in Pune district. Eligible candidates included students from ZP schools studying in classes 6 and 7. Out of 16,121 students who registered, 13,671 appeared for the exam conducted in multiple-choice format. At the second stage, an online test was held on July 19 that was taken by 1,541 students. Based on these students' performance, 235 students were shortlisted for personal interviews conducted at the IUCAA between August 6 and 8. At the third stage, 75 students were selected for the exposure visits with 50 travelling to ISRO and the remaining 25 travelling to NASA. The final 25 students chosen for the NASA visit include four each from Shirur and Khed talukas; two each from Ambegaon, Baramati, Bhor, Daund, Haveli and Mulshi; and one each from Indapur, Junnar, Maval, Purandar and Rajgad. The Pune ZP has already started planning the students' travel arrangements, with the ISRO visit scheduled in the coming months and the NASA visit to follow. Pune ZP CEO Gajanan Patil said 'This initiative marks a milestone in rural education. We believe talent is abundant in our villages, and our goal is to improve the quality of education across the entire district. The 75 selected students will get the opportunity to visit ISRO and NASA, inspiring them to dream bigger and broaden their horizons. The remaining students will be rewarded with visits to the Nehru Planetarium, GMRT Khodad and Rashtrapati Bhavan, ensuring that every deserving child is celebrated.' Bhaskar Taware, a student from ZP Adarsh Primary School, Sangavi, who is among the 75 students shortlisted for the exposure tours, told Hindustan Times, 'I am in class 7 and was preparing for this exam online. My teacher, Sunita Khalate, helped me a lot to clear every concept. The first-level exam was very hard for me, and I did not expect to crack it. The interview was easier, and they asked astronomy-related questions. My father works in a factory, and I never imagined that a student like me could ever get a chance to go to NASA. I am feeling so happy and really excited to see how scientists conduct research at NASA. In future, I want to build my career in this field. I even spent my entire summer vacation studying for the exam.' Shubhra Renuse, a student from ZP Primary School, Pabe, who is also among the 75 shortlisted students, said, 'My father died in an accident when I was a child, and my mother raised me. It is a really great opportunity for me to be able to go and see NASA. I studied very hard for it. During the summer, we did not go anywhere because of this exam. My teachers also worked very hard; we used to study every night from 8 pm to 11 pm, solving tests and mock papers which made it easier. Block education officer Sangram Patil also conducted mock interviews for all selected students to give us an idea of how to face the interview. That gave me confidence, and I already knew I would clear this exam. I am missing my father; he would have been very happy for me.' The programme is not limited to just foreign exposure tours. A year-long enrichment component has been designed, featuring hands-on science workshops, interactive activities, lectures by experts, and guided visits to science centres across India. This will ensure that the selected students continue to benefit academically and personally from the experience, even after their visits are over. This pioneering initiative is expected to become a model for similar science outreach programmes across the country, opening new horizons for India's rural youth.
