NASA designs a high-power laser to detect water on the moon
The small amount of water found on the moon is proven by old research, while it is still tricky to
discriminate the water, free hydrogen ions, and hydroxyl.
A heterodyne spectrometer is an instrument that can increase the chances of detecting the
source of water on the moon. A stable, high-powered, Tetrahertz laser is as tiny as enough to
take on space, and NASA has proved it.
Dr. Berhanu Bulcha, a NASA engineer of the space flight center, said that these lasers would perform new facts. He said that our following estimation is to
find the clue from where water is coming, from a comet impact, or it is the formation of the
moon itself. Water is essential for life's existence, and if there is water on the moon, it will be
beneficial for fuel production.
Spectrometers detect the chemical properties of matter by detecting its wavelength or spectrum.
Hydrogen-containing compound like water shows a specific range between microwave and
infrared region.
A heterodyne spectrometer merges a local laser source with incoming light, and data is
measured by differentiating between a combined wavelength of light and the laser source which
provides precise reading among sub bandwidth of the spectrum.
Every atom has its specific region to excite an electron in the spectrum so that this laser
differentiate the minute portion in the range between infrared and microwave regions called
the terahertz gap.
The old laser could not zoom the closest portion of the spectrum but the tiny
the high-power laser can zoom the quantum scale effects of matter.
