Forty years after man first set foot on the moon, the United States has dispatched two unmanned lunar spacecraft to earth’s natural satellite to pave the way for humans to return there. The search for deposits of water is high on the agenda of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe, too, may well join the quest. ‘Discovering water on the moon would be like finding a gold mine,’ said U.S. space agency NASA in a recent press document. It estimates that getting a bottle of water to the moon would run to about $50,000 at current launch costs. Therefore, the ability to extract water locally would be immensely useful if humans want to establish bases on the celestial body. It is believed that water could have been brought to the moon by comets and meteorites that have crashed on its surface over billions of years. Likewise, hydrogen ions streaming out from the sun might have combined with oxygen from chemical compounds in the lunar soil and turned into water. The question is whether all this water has boiled off in the face of the moon’s scorching daytime temperatures and its low gravitational hold. In a paper published in 1961, three scientists at the California Institute of Technology, put forward the idea that water ‘may well be present in appreciable quantities in shaded areas in the form of ice’. The paper appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research around the same time President John F. Kennedy committed the U.S, to landing a man on the moon. Some thirty years later, two U.S. space probes that went to the moon, Clementine and Lunar Prospector, provided evidence that water might persist as patches of ice mixed with soil at the bottom of craters at the poles. Sunlight never reaches the bottom of some craters at the lunar poles, which therefore remain at temperatures far below the freezing point of water. So these would be ideal locations for trapping water ice on the moon. But the evidence has been disputed and scientists continue to argue vigorously about whether or not earth’s nearest neighbour holds any water. The LRO and the LCROSS were launched from Cape Canaveral in Florid The two spacecraft, along with Chandrayaan-1, will undoubtedly throw a great deal of new light on the issue. Once the spacecraft is commissioned, a slew of instruments on it will look for signs of water ice and hydrogen in different ways. The LCROSS and the spent upper stage of the Atlas rocket that launched the two spacecraft have swung past the moon for the first time. NASA plans to send the empty upper stage, weighing over 2,000 kg, hurtling into a crater near the lunar south pole at a speed of about 9,000 km per hour.

Question

Forty years after man first set foot on the moon, the United States has dispatched two unmanned lunar spacecraft to earth’s natural satellite to pave the way for humans to return there. The search for deposits of water is high on the agenda of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe, too, may well join the quest. ‘Discovering water on the moon would be like finding a gold mine,’ said U.S. space agency NASA in a recent press document. It estimates that getting a bottle of water to the moon would run to about $50,000 at current launch costs. Therefore, the ability to extract water locally would be immensely useful if humans want to establish bases on the celestial body. It is believed that water could have been brought to the moon by comets and meteorites that have crashed on its surface over billions of years. Likewise, hydrogen ions streaming out from the sun might have combined with oxygen from chemical compounds in the lunar soil and turned into water. The question is whether all this water has boiled off in the face of the moon’s scorching daytime temperatures and its low gravitational hold.  In a paper published in 1961, three scientists at the California Institute of Technology, put forward the idea that water ‘may well be present in appreciable quantities in shaded areas in the form of ice’. The paper appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research around the same time President John F. Kennedy committed the U.S, to landing a man on the moon. Some thirty years later, two U.S. space probes that went to the moon, Clementine and Lunar Prospector, provided evidence that water might persist as patches of ice mixed with soil at the bottom of craters at the poles. Sunlight never reaches the bottom of some craters at the lunar poles, which therefore remain at temperatures far below the freezing point of water. So these would be ideal locations for trapping water ice on the moon. But the evidence has been disputed and scientists continue to argue vigorously about whether or not earth’s nearest neighbour holds any water.  The LRO and the LCROSS were launched from Cape Canaveral in Florid The two spacecraft, along with Chandrayaan-1, will undoubtedly throw a great deal of new light on the issue. Once the spacecraft is commissioned, a slew of instruments on it will look for signs of water ice and hydrogen in different ways.  The LCROSS and the spent upper stage of the Atlas rocket that launched the two spacecraft have swung past the moon for the first time. NASA plans to send the empty upper stage, weighing over 2,000 kg, hurtling into a crater near the lunar south pole at a speed of about 9,000 km per hour.

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How is the moon referred to in the passage?
I. A gold mine
II. A celestial body
III. Earth’s natural satellite
IV. Earth’s nearest neighbor

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Why is it necessary to extract water locally on the moon?

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

The main objective of sending the LRO and the LCROSS to the moon is to

The Correct Option is

Solution and Explanation

In the phrase, ‘slew of instruments’, the word ‘slew’ means

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

It can be inferred from the passage that the moon’s

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Choose the statement that is true in the context of the passage.

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

What is the belief about the existence of water on the moon?

The Correct Option is

Solution and Explanation

What is the apt title of the passage?

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

What would be the best place for trapping the ice water on the moon?

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Top Questions on Reading Comprehension

Questions Asked in IBSAT exam

How is the moon referred to in the passage? I. A gold mine II. A celestial body III. Earth’s natural satellite IV. Earth’s nearest neighbor

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Why is it necessary to extract water locally on the moon?

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

The main objective of sending the LRO and the LCROSS to the moon is to

The Correct Option is

Solution and Explanation

In the phrase, ‘slew of instruments’, the word ‘slew’ means

The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

It can be inferred from the passage that the moon’s

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Choose the statement that is true in the context of the passage.

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

What is the belief about the existence of water on the moon?

The Correct Option is

Solution and Explanation

What is the apt title of the passage?

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

What would be the best place for trapping the ice water on the moon?

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Top Questions on Reading Comprehension

Questions Asked in IBSAT exam

How is the moon referred to in the passage?
I. A gold mine
II. A celestial body
III. Earth’s natural satellite
IV. Earth’s nearest neighbor