Would you drink the water extracted from the moon? With NASA’s recent discovery of water on the moon’s surface, this may become more common practice. But scientists warn that the water extracted on the moon will be significantly different from what you are used to drinking.

How will it taste? What will be the effect on your body? And why is it so important for future space exploration?

“Wait, did we find water on the moon?” I know you’re thinking. And you’re right, we did. But before, we only knew it was hiding in dark craters at the Moon’s poles.

Now scientists have discovered that even more water is dispersed on the moon’s surface. This water is so important because it could one day be the foundation of a lunar settlement and economy.

So the question is, how do we “get” this water from the moon? And is it safe to drink?

It is not surprising that there is much less water on the Moon than on Earth. One cubic meter of soil sprinkled on the Moon’s surface contains only about 0.1-0.4 liters of water. This is pretty much the same as a 330ml water bottle.

Even the Sahara Desert contains about 100 times more water. The good news is that this moon water should be relatively easy to mine. For such waters, you do not need to drill deep into the surface. But the bad news is that it will be very expensive. It is estimated that around $0.5 million per ton of water can be extracted and processed on the Moon.

This means that the amount of water required for a shower will cost $39,000. And the daily cost of drinking water for a person will be about $ 2,000. As expensive as it sounds, it would cost around 20 times more to transport water from Earth.

So, if you’re lucky enough to be at a moon base, you’ll likely be drinking moon water. A glass of moonshine will likely taste salty and hard due to its contents.

Scientists suggest that moon water may contain metallic elements such as mercury, magnesium, and sodium. And each of these elements can cause you serious problems.

The first is mercury. Few foods can contain small amounts of mercury and will not affect your health in any way, but consistently higher doses can be dangerous. Mercury poisoning is associated with cognitive problems, and the symptoms are very similar to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

The second is magnesium. It’s often the main ingredient in laxatives and can give you an idea of ​​what it might lead to. It’s the kidneys that need to clear magnesium that your body doesn’t need. However, if your system is overwhelmed, you may experience symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and, in extreme cases, cardiac arrest.

If that doesn’t sound appealing enough, moonshine can also contain high levels of sodium. Since you will drink this juice every day, it can lead to high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems. But let’s be honest. If humanity has the technology to go to the moon and extract water from it, then of course we can develop the technology to filter that water.