Scientists the NASA Ames Research Center conducted an experiment in the late 1960s to simulate the evolution of the lunar surface. Without atmosphere and notable geological activity, the only processes that alter the surface are erosion and sedimentation, both caused by impacts: new craters and ejecta continuously reshape the landscape. So researchers started with a smooth surface of quartz sand, shot different sized projectiles into it and took photographs which was later combined into a film. The experiment was named Mare Exemplum (Sea of Examples).
Scientists were shocked by a few rock samples, brought back by the Apollo astronauts – not literally of course but by the fact that they were magnetic. That required the rocks to solidify in the presence of a magnetic field at the time they formed but the researchers had no idea where that field would com from as the Moon was too small to have one. Not one but two new proposals appeared in the last few weeks however about possible mechanisms to drive a magnetic dynamo in the Moon.
Satellites and space probes currently communicate the Earth and with each other via radio waves. Despite the innovative solutions for higher data transfer rates and compression techniques though, NASA's capabilities will not keep pace with the needs of future instruments and human spaceflight. The solution is to augment the current radio-based systems with optical technology. Laser-based communications will increase the data rates by anywhere between 10 to 100 times. New technologies must be tested though, before trusting critical operations on them.
