Tomorrow morning's moon is going to be special
because it's going to be passing into the shadow of the earth.
If you're up early enough on Tuesday morning, you'll
actually get treated to seeing the moon turn this reddish color.
As the earth passes between the moon and the sun,
effectively blocking out the sun's rays from reaching the lunar
surface,
the moon turns this this reddish color during an eclipse
for the same reason that we see red sunrises and sunsets.
Basically, Earth's atmosphere blocks out
colors from the sun in the atmosphere.
And so the red light is all that we have left.
That's why we have these beautiful red sunrises and sunsets.
Well, that red light is what actually goes through the Earth's atmosphere
and onto the lunar surface.
So when you look up at the moon
during a total lunar eclipse and you see it
turning red, you're actually seeing the projection of every sunrise
and every sunset on the earth onto the lunar surface.
NASA's Artemis
program is this really exciting next era of lunar exploration.
50 years ago, the Apollo 17 mission concluded
the first era of crews exploring the lunar surface.
And what artists will do
is usher in a new era of humans visiting the lunar surface.
What we hope to have happen with our Mass one after the successful
completion of that mission
is the establishment of a regular Kings of missions that go to the moon,
sending astronauts to the surface of the moon for six days
and eventually building up the capability of having astronauts live on the surface
for extended periods of time.
What we want to do with Artemis is really leverage
the lessons that we learned from Apollo and usher in a new era of humans
exploring the moon and eventually going on to explore Mars
over the last 13 years.
The data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has really helped us paint a
a modern, vibrant picture of the moon.
For me, one of the most exciting discoveries
that we've made is the identification of craters
that have formed on the surface of the moon.
In the time that we've been there,
we're actually seeing the moon change very gradually underneath our feet.
Another really cool thing
that we've learned from the moon actually comes from these eclipses.
Years ago, we used to turn on one of our instruments
that would actually measure
the temperature change at the surface of the moon during an eclipse.
This very special configuration the moon is going from being baked
by the sun to the deep cold of being in the Earth's shadow.
And that happens very rapidly.
And when you cool the lunar surface rapidly,
it cools down and we can measure that temperature change.
And by doing that, we gain insights into the properties of the upper
few centimeters of the lunar surface.
If you've ever been on a beach a hot day, the sand can get very hot.
But if a cloud passes over, the sand cools down very quickly.
Well, we can measure that temperature change from orbit, and now we do that
from the Earth to understand the properties of the surface of the moon
really taking advantage of these special eclipses.
We want
to send astronauts back to the surface of the moon, really to help
understand the history of the earth
and moon system, the context for
our very own planet in our corner of the solar system.
When we send astronauts on the moon, they're not only collecting samples
that revealed the lunar history.
They also are telling us something about the history of our own planet
here on Earth.
And so you know, the moon offers us
this really unique window into the rest of the solar system.
The processes that are recorded on the surface of the moon happen
on every other object impact craters interacting
with radiation from the sun, from space.
So when we learn about the moon, we can apply that understanding
to every object, whether it's Mercury or Pluto or comets or asteroids or even Mars.
And so what the moon affords us this opportunity to do is really begin
to better understand how planets work, how planets evolve over time,
and how they interact with the universe around us.
So my first
advice for anybody who wants to learn more is to go visit Moon
Dot asked of a website that has a wealth of information
that can talk more about future exploration plans to help
you learn about the moon and help you prepare for the eclipse tomorrow morning.
One of the fascinating things about the moon is that it has this
almost pristine record of the entirety of solar system history.
We see impact craters that are on the moon that are over 4 billion years old.
We also see impact craters that are formed within the last few years.
And so this entire history of our solar system is recorded
in the surface of the moon.
And so depending on where we go on the moon, we can understand
more about the earliest history of the solar system or indeed
what's happening today with our atmosphere.
You want to go explore the little lunar South
Pole, an area we know that is not only very, very cold,
but also may harbor volatiles, water and other resources that we might use
to further sustain human exploration throughout the solar system.
And so this record of volatiles, of impacts of volcanism
is uniquely recorded on the moon, on Mars.
Those records get erased relatively quickly
because of the atmosphere at Mars.
On the moon, we have no such atmosphere.
And so that record remains largely pristine for for millions of years.
And so what we can do is, is use that record and begin
to understand the importance of impact craters.
When they form on the moon.
They tell us something about the process
that happens across the solar system and indeed in other solar systems.
So really,
it's about applying the understanding we have about geology from the Earth
and the moon and extending that out across the rest of the solar system.
The Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission, which has now been at the moon for over 13
years, has really revealed a an amazing object.
We've done this through the collection of incredibly high resolution
data, data that tells us about the dynamics of the moon.
You know, it's not just enough to map the moon once, but
by mapping the moon effectively every month
since June of 2009,
we're able to see the moon change the moon
in its current state and how that state
evolves on a human timescale.
But we're also able to identify the places that we want to send future
human and robotic explorers.
And by doing that, we're in a much better position
to explore the moon and ask questions of the moon.
When we go with a robotic lander or with a crew of astronauts
to prepare for an eclipse.
What we do for the spacecraft is several things.
We know that the spacecraft under normal operations sees the sunlight for
about half of its orbit around the moon, half of the orbits around the moon.
It's in darkness during eclipse.
We're in darkness for an extended period of time.
Now, the battery on LRO is charged by solar power.
And so when we lose that solar power during an eclipse,
what we have to do is really turn off as much of the spacecraft as possible,
go into a very low power mode so that we don't drain the battery.
We also heat the spacecraft up.
During eclipse, we lose that warmth of the sun.
So we warm the spacecraft up beforehand so that it can grab
really cool as we go through go through the eclipse.
By doing those two things, we put the spacecraft in its best shape,
best position to get through the eclipse with with flying colors.