Data from the Chinese Moon Lander shows signs of a unique “Cavity”.

As NASA continues its pursuit of a permanent presence on the Moon, future explorers will face many dangers, from micrometeorite showers hitting the lunar surface to the unknown effects of spending so much time in only one-sixth of Earth’s gravity.

Deep space radiation is also still a major hazard. NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, scheduled to launch next week, will see astronauts travel far beyond the Moon, reaching the furthest humans have ever left home, and potentially exposing them to extremely high levels of radiation.

Fear: such cosmic rays can penetrate the body of magicians and damage DNA or increase the risk of cancer.

But thanks to recent research by an international team of researchers, there may be a unique “pocket” of reduced atmospheric radiation that could provide them with a place to live. This hole includes the Moon and extends far from it in space, and appears only at certain times in the line of the Moon around the Earth, where the cosmic rays die off the most.

As described in a paper published this week in the journal Advances in Sciencethe team analyzed data collected by China’s Chang’e-4 lander, which became the first spacecraft to land and explore the far side of the Moon in early 2019.

They found a mysterious “reduced space”. [galactic cosmic ray] which flows in the pre-dawn phase of the lunar cycle,” challenging the assumption that radiation is “distributed uniformly over the distance between the Earth and the Moon.”

A simple analogy of the researchers explains when and where this area appears. The circle of white dots shows the Moon’s orbit around the Earth. Just before the dawn of the Moon, “galactic cosmic ray [GCR] The tail,” as indicated by the brighter streak of light, is caused by Earth’s gravitational pull — which shields Earth’s natural satellite from the Sun’s rays.

The consequences of future space travel could be many, as research shows that the gravitational force that protects our planet is wider than previously thought.

The paper says: “This phase shows that the influence of the Earth’s gravity on the space environment suddenly extends far beyond the orbit of the moon.

The hole appears in several Earth hours after sunrise. One lunar day lasts about 29.5 Earth days, which means that it is not as short as it sounds, stretching the window to “about 2”. [Earth] days during each change of the moon.”

The decision may help inform future activities on the moon’s surface. Corresponding author of the paper and Kiel University professor Robert Wimmer-Schweingruber said Live Science the morning of the full moon is the best time for travel, considering the reduction of about 20 percent of radiation hitting scientists compared to normal conditions.

The researchers analyzed data from Chang’e-4’s Lunar Lander Neutron and Dosimetry, which measured the number of protons from cosmic rays throughout the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, which allowed them to know the frequency of exposure to radiation. They suggest that Earth’s gravity may continue to block some of these energetic protons.

“I didn’t expect to see this ‘shadow’ or this space,” Wimmer-Schweingruber said Live Science. “It makes sense in retrospect, but I was very skeptical when I first saw this result.”

As the US and China continue to step up their efforts to send astronauts to the Moon, the research could have far-reaching implications.

“This finding provides a possible strategy for mission planning, especially for lunar missions and other extraterrestrial missions, since operations can be timed to match these low radiation periods to reduce the risk of exposure,” the researchers concluded.

“Future studies with expanded databases can further clarify the location and behavior of this region, providing deeper information on radiation protection strategies, not only for the Earth-Moon system,” they added, “but for activities near other magnetic bodies in the Solar System.”

More on cosmic rays: Scientists propose injecting astronauts with Tardigrade RNA after finding it to prevent radiation damage.