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The Ethiopian scientist on the search for water on the moon - BBC

The Ethiopian scientist on the search for water on the moon - BBC

The Ethiopian scientist on the search for water on the moon - BBC
Nov 20, 2022 1 min, 30 secs

Ethiopian-American Nasa research engineer Berhanu Bulcha is aiming to find a solution to the problem of locating water on the moon, to help humans set up a permanent base there.

Nasa's Artemis 1 rocket was finally launched this week - the start of an ambitious space exploration programme that is designed to take humans back to the moon and beyond.

Addressing the issue of how to get hold of water beyond Earth is crucial.

The lunar base being planned would be impossible without the precious liquid and Dr Berhanu is leading a team working on how it could be found on our planet's only natural satellite.

Significantly lunar water could also be used to make rocket fuel, allowing the moon to be a platform for further space travel, which would bypass the need for the huge rockets required to overcome our planet's gravitational pull.

Dr Berhanu and his team are developing a prototype light-weight compact spectrometer that could definitively identify where water reserves are on the moon.

Since getting to graduate school at the University of Virginia 12 years ago, Dr Berhanu has been focussing on developing space instruments that would solve problems for Nasa - and arguably the search for water is the biggest problem of all.

The device assisted by the laser that Dr Berhanu is working on emits particles of light at a frequency specific to water, which can be used to pinpoint its presence.

Dr Berhanu describes it as a novel technological development that will enable astronauts to use a hand-held device to find both the location and volume of water - something which has not been achieved before.

Based at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, Dr Berhanu recently received $2.5m (£2.1m) to continue working on the prototype.

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