Kaguya Finds Uranium

Japan's Kaguya spacecraft, launched in 2007 to map the mineral resources of Earth's Moon, found, among many other useful elements and minerals, lunar unanium.

Kaguya used a spectrometer to do its work from lunar orbit. Spectrometers break ordinary light down into its components, and each element has its own spectral signature-- that has been determined by work in laboratories over the past century or so. If a signature is found in a spectrograph of a star or other heavenly body, we can say the element belonging to that signature is present in that heavenly body.

Lunar uranium presents some exciting possibilities. Nuclear reactors fueled by lunar uranium could power lunar bases and colonies, for example. Or, lunar uranium could fuel nuclear-powered spaceships that could allow humans to travel quickly to Mars and beyond without worrying about a launch accident involving radioactive material; the ship's reactor could be fueled after it reaches space. Or, lunar uranium could be used to power commercial reactors on Earth. That would allow nuclear power without the environmental costs of mining on Earth, and lunar uranium mining could be the essential first industry around which a vibrant, diversified lunar economy could be built.

Uranium on the Moon has the potential to be very big news indeed.