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00:03:32Do you have a science question? Then send
00:03:35it to us as a video, text or voice message.
00:03:39If we answer it on the show, then we'll send you a little gift as a thank
00:03:42you. So, just
00:03:44ask:
00:03:47Is there water on the moon?
00:03:50At first glance, the moon looks a bit like a desert, and for a long
00:03:54time scientists were sure there was no water on
00:03:57it. Now though, we know that... there is, but
00:04:01where is it? And could we use
00:04:02it?
00:04:06Most of the moon's water is found at its south
00:04:08pole. Many craters there have no access to
00:04:12sunlight, and says NASA, are some of the coldest
00:04:15parts of the entire solar system. The water here
00:04:19is permanent ice. Some has been frozen for 3.5
00:04:22billion years. Temperatures are as low as
00:04:25240° Celsius. The
00:04:28LRO lunar or... revealed that there is ice
00:04:32lying just below the surface here, either as solid deposits or
00:04:35mixed with lunar dust. And there's a lot of it. Estimates
00:04:39suggest hundreds of millions of metric
00:04:42tons.
00:04:44There's also water in moon dust, what's known as lunar
00:04:47regolith. NASA's LADEE mission showed that
00:04:51when rocks from space strike the moon's
00:04:54surface, they kick up not only dust, but
00:04:57also traces of water, even in areas subject to
00:05:00sunlight, but they are traces. The
00:05:04Sahara Desert contains around 100 times more water
00:05:08than lunar
00:05:08dust.
00:05:12Can we access it? That's something for future lunar
00:05:16missions to find out. Either way, it
00:05:19won't be easy to extract. Temperatures are
00:05:22very low, the terrain is difficult, and it'll take a lot of
00:05:26tech.
00:05:29Water access will be crucial for future lunar
00:05:32missions. It could be treated and turned into drinking
00:05:35water, or broken down into its
00:05:38components, hydrogen and oxygen, using electrolysis.
00:05:44These could be used for breathing or for rocket
00:05:46fuel.
00:05:49Until then, however, astronauts will still have to bring their water with
00:05:53them from
00:05:53Earth.
00:06:01Space exploration is all the rage among Gen Z-ers.
00:06:05That's because it boasts more opportunities than ever
00:06:08before. SpaceX and Blue Origin, as well as numerous satellite
00:06:11startups are stirring things up. It's no
00:06:15longer just government agencies that get to explore up
00:06:18there. The space industry is
00:06:21expanding and attracting
00:06:24talent.
00:06:31With the help of this simulator, Aloys Lüschel is training his mining
00:06:35skills. He hopes to one day extract raw materials far
00:06:38away on the moon. Lüschel studies space technologies at the Freiberg
00:06:43University of Mining and Technology in Eastern Germany and has big
00:06:46plans.
00:06:49It would be cool to have the opportunity to go to the moon, but on the other hand, it's also
00:06:52really cool just to be part of developing all of this and to find solutions
00:06:56essential for it to work, solutions without which it wouldn't be
00:06:59possible.
00:07:02Extracting raw materials in space is laborious,
00:07:06dangerous work. The low gravity makes it difficult, as do
00:07:09the meter thick layers of lunar dust and the lethal
00:07:12radiation, a challenge for the
00:07:14scientists.
00:07:17We're looking for simple, hardwearing solutions that are robust. On the
00:07:21moon, you can't easily repair equipment, for example, so everything has to be
00:07:24lightweight, reliable and robust.
00:07:28Like this rover, for example, developed by students here at the
00:07:31university. It moves across the rugged lunar surface,
00:07:35locating, extracting and transporting raw
00:07:37materials. Soon it'll be possible to produce rovers
00:07:41like this on the moon.
00:07:47A crewed lunar landing is planned for 2028
00:08:06as part of the Artemis IV mission. The plan is to
00:08:10then build a lunar station up there.
00:08:13It will be too expensive to restock this base with deliveries from
00:08:16Earth, so astronauts will need to use resources very
00:08:19carefully.
00:08:23Lunar astronauts will have to breathe the same air over and over, drink
00:08:27the same water, eat the same carrots, recycle like
00:08:30crazy. And by finding solutions we're developing
00:08:33technologies that are useful on Earth too.
00:08:37Data collected by the Artemis II mission, which launched in April
00:08:412026, will be used to prepare for the planned crewed
00:08:44lunar landing in
00:08:452028.
00:08:51This is what dwellings on the moon could look
00:08:53like.
00:08:56Together with the European Space Agency, London-based design
00:09:00and architecture firm Hassel has developed a master plan for a
00:09:04modular lunar base in which human beings could work and
00:09:07live long-term. One big challenge is the lunar
00:09:11radiation, so... thick walls could be
00:09:13essential. But how to build
00:09:16them? We're not going to bring our own concrete
00:09:20to build shell structures or caves to protect our
00:09:24astronauts, we better use local materials, so therefore we're
00:09:27going to use regolith, which is lunar dust, to
00:09:31create blocks that then what we called tetrapods that we
00:09:35can actually interconnect and create the structures, these shell
00:09:38structures, cave-like structures under which our
00:09:42astronauts can live inside their inflatable
00:09:45habitats. It sounds great and the
00:09:49model looks impressive too. But what about putting it into
00:09:52practice?
00:09:55Researcher Morrit is helping to develop the building material.
00:09:59Although there are abundant supplies of regolith on the
00:10:02moon, direct isn't
00:10:06necessarily suitable as building material. Regolith is a bit
00:10:09like sand, which means if you melt it it.
00:10:25together and afterwards you end up with a porous, solid
00:10:28composite material which could be used to make something like bricks for
00:10:32example. Bricks you could then use to build walls
00:10:35with. We also use heat-resistant plastics for
00:10:383D printing and we mix in regolith to boost the
00:10:42overall volume. That way we can achieve a larger volume and so need to take less
00:10:46plastic with us for
00:10:47printing.
00:10:50With a special high-temperature printer, it's even possible to
00:10:53process pure regolith. It can be used its own or
00:10:57mixed with plastic. 3D printing has great potential for
00:11:01lunar construction work. NASA
00:11:04conducted tests with large- format printers. One good
00:11:07option is to design lightweight inflatable structures and then
00:11:11clad them in
00:11:12regolith.
00:11:16And the plan would be to incorporate the assistance of small
00:11:19robots. What at first glance looks like a vacuum cleaner
00:11:23is actually a mobile 3D printer. It applies
00:11:27regolith layer by layer directly onto the lightweight base
00:11:30structure. All this is still just vision, but
00:11:34this or something similar could be what living on the moon looks like one
00:11:38day. Humanity is heading off to new realms and
00:11:41this exploratory urge drives researchers
00:11:44too.
00:11:48Ever since I've been working here and regularly seeing the astronauts walking
00:11:52around, I find myself thinking, wow, I'm... really working on these
00:11:56frontiers that we're currently pushing back, and working
00:11:59on lunar projects is incredibly inspiring, it fills me with
00:12:03enthusiasm, and I'm so grateful to be allowed to be so close to it all,
00:12:07it's totally
00:12:08crazy.
00:12:13Imagine it's the year 3000. What would
00:12:16archaeologists dig up from our time? Very likely bits
00:12:20of plastic and fragments of synthetic clothing, which are
00:12:23already found in dense layers in the ground, thanks to our
00:12:26appetite for disposable
00:12:28fashion.
00:12:32T-shirts emblazoned with the latest designs, bang on
00:12:35trend, super short distressed look hot pants,
00:12:39must have. The latest fast fashion
00:12:43collections will doubtless have a shorter product life
00:12:46cycle as
00:12:47ever.
00:12:51Friederike von works to improve sustainability in
00:13:25more than half of what we produce goes straight into the trash
00:13:29unused. That in itself is a massive
00:13:32problem.
00:13:35And fast fashion giants like Primark seem almost
00:13:38harmless in comparison to online Chinese sellers like
00:13:42Shein, which are more about ultra fast
00:13:45fashion.
00:13:49Product life cycles are getting significantly shorter, things need to be
00:13:52replaced more quickly and consumption.
00:14:19With the digital product passport, a consumer who wants to buy an item of
00:14:23clothing in a store, for example,
00:14:25can scan a QR code and will directly access a platform
00:14:29where they can retrieve product information. There
00:14:32is a whole range of product information currently being
00:14:35considered. One might be the durability of the
00:14:38fibers used in the textiles. In other
00:14:41words, how long-lasting is the fiber I'm about to buy.
00:14:45Other product information could be the garment's ecological or carbon
00:14:48footprint. And here's
00:14:52how it works: Production origin, material.
00:16:07sustainability of fibers and textiles by putting them to the test in the
00:16:11laboratory.
00:16:13Most fast fashion items are not made to
00:16:16last. It takes just few test cycles to
00:16:19reveal weaknesses, although these can easily be missed
00:16:23in the
00:16:24store.
00:16:28Here you can see that it is already opened along this edge. It's come
00:16:32completely undone and the fabric is very light. There is
00:16:36no locking stitch here.
00:17:38And it's not just brands associated with ultra fast fashion that are doing
00:17:42it. We see the same trend in higher price segments as well.
00:17:45This phenomenon. It's
00:17:48far from the case that higher prices mean better
00:17:51quality, and no matter how much it costs, isn't
00:17:55fashion by its very nature
00:17:57fleeting?
00:17:59Sustainable fashion like that sold in this slow fashion store in
00:18:03central Berlin remains a niche concept, and even if
00:18:06consumers are given more information about how a garment is made, will they
00:18:10actually use it? And how much does this information influence
00:18:14purchasing decisions anyway?
00:18:17Oliver McConnell, innovation strategist and fashion expert, has
00:18:21his reservations about the digital product
00:18:23passports.
00:18:27We see the appealing aspects of fast fashion, the trendy styles, the
00:18:31instant gratification, and so the question we really need to ask
00:18:35is, how do we bring immediate reward?
00:19:37it will be. Following a preparatory and
00:19:41introductory phase beginning in 2027, the
00:19:44digital product passport for textiles in the EU is set
00:19:48to come into effect in
00:19:492028.
00:19:57Archaeological discoveries,
00:20:01water on the moon and building a lunar base.
00:20:05We'll be back soon with more stories from world of
00:20:08science. See you then tomorrow, today. Take
00:20:37care.