Dopo l'acqua, scoperte microsfere magnetiche sul lato buio

After water, it’s magnet . Chandrayaan-1 has discovered and confirmed for the first time the presence of magnetic spheres on the far
side of the moon—the side we cannot see from the earth. This could theoretically mean a longer and secure stay for astronauts on moon.

There had been speculation for long but the confirmation was made by Sara, the instrument jointly made by Isro, European Space Agency and Sweden. The findings by Sara, not yet published, were made known by top scientists on the sidelines of the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian Academy of Sciences at IISC. The discovery of magnetic forces comes after the discovery of water molecules by M3—the Nasa instrument on Chandrayaan-1.

Nasa on Friday said there wasn’t just a whiff of water on the moon, but plenty. The impact carved out by its satellite LCROSS, that slammed into a crater near the moon’s south pole a month ago, kicked up at least 24 gallons of water. “We got more than just whiff. We practically tasted it with the impact,” said Peter H Schultz, a geological sciences professor at Brown University and a co-investigator of the mission.

The magnetic spheres confirmation has also indicated that the absorpotion and release of hydrogen because of the magnetic spheres is lesser than was thought before—just 20% of an earlier estimated 100%. “The amount of inventory of hydrogen on the lunar surface would be much less than we thought earlier,” said Anil Bhardwaj, the principal investigator for Sara.

The confirmation of micro-magnetic spheres has thrown open an exciting theoretical possibility—a safer stay for astronauts. It is believed that micro magnetic sphere resists or deflects radiation from solar winds hitting the moon’s surface . In case bigger magnetic spheres could be built, astronauts could live within those spheres and survive the radiation.

What makes the magnetic spheres on the moon significant is that there is no atmosphere on the moon which enables solar winds to hit the moon’s surface directly . The impact of radiation is direct. If at all an astronaut has to survive on a planet without atmosphere it would then have to be with the aid of magnetic spheres. Sara has also discovered lot of different ions like direct solar wind ions, reflected solar wind ions and nightside ions.

Fonte: economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/Chandrayaan-discovers-magnet-on-moon/articleshow/522...

Che vuol dire microsfere magnetiche??

Sono oggetti naturali dotati di campo magnetico, sono molecole? E la definizione di micro che dimensioni ha? Come possono essere eventualmente utilizzate dall'uomo queste microsfere? Mi sa che ci ho capito poco....

DeMultaNocte, 24/11/2009 10.55:

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Mi sa che ci ho capito poco....

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Effettivamente l'articolo in questione è (appena!) un po' carente dal punto di vista scientifico!!!

Ho trovato anche questo da news.indiainfo.com:

Chandrayaan-1 has another first to its name. It has found small magnetic field on the lunar surface, raising hopes about the possibility of colonies in moon in future.
Scientists got evidence of the magnetic field after analysing the data obtained by the Sub Key Atom Reflecting Analyser (SARA). SARA was one of the three instruments contributed by the European Space Agency (ESA) to Chandrayaan-1. The lunar orbiter, built jointly by scientific groups from Sweden, India, Japan, and Switzerland, completed its mission in August 2009.
The finding was revealed in a presentation on SARA made by Anil Bhardwaj, head of the planetary space branch at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram, during the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) in Bangalore.
"The finding has been submitted for peer review," he said.
The Swedish Institute of Space Physics, which is the European Principal Investigator for the SARA payload, made the finding while investigating why 20 per cent of protons hitting the moon's surface in the form of solar winds got reflected as hydrogen molecule.
"This (the magnetic field) is being discovered for the first time," said Bhardwaj. The moon does not generate a global' magnetic field, but some lunar rocks are magnetised. These generate magnetic bubbles, which divert the incoming protons to the surrounding regions.
"We do not as yet know how many such structures exist, but we assume there must be around 100 such magnetospheres," he said. The mini magnetosphere was found near the Gerasimovic crater at far side of the moon, he said.
This will help the scientific community study the effects of magnetic fields in the lunar environment. Such magnetospheres can be ideal space for moon colonies also, Bhardwaj said.
The magnetic field will deflect the solar radiation, which is harmful to living bodies, Bhardwaj said. And since the magnetic 'bubbles' are dome shaped, house that are also dome-shaped can be built in future, he said. But an environment with enough gases is also needed to make human living possible in moon, and creating such an environment is a complex procedure, he explained.
The latest discovery will now make the scientific community look for such magnetospheres in other bodies of the solar system like asteroids, planet mercury and satellites of mars, which are thought to have no atmosphere but could experience similar phenomenon.
The discovery comes at a time when scientists and engineers are readying the ESA's Bepi-Colombo mission to Mercury that carries instruments similar to SARA to look for similar phenomenon.


Comunque lo strumento nominato dovrevrebbe fare rilevamenti a livello atomico quindi... aspettiamo qualche info più dettagliata!

Ho trovato un articolo decisamente più interessante
www.esa.int/esaSC/SEM8TBYRA0G_index_0.html

Praticamente il merito va ad alcune rocce lunari che permettono alla Luna di avere delle bolle magnetiche locali.