Micrometeorites did a little damage to the main solar array that powers the cracking station.  Yukito and I took the CEHV out to install replacement panels. Most of the micrometeorites are too small to cause much damage, but some are big enough to tear through several layers of the photovoltaic film. We do visual inspections once a month and usually have to replace one or two panels.

The panels sit high up on the crater’s ridge, in a spot we call the ‘peaks of eternal light’. They’ve almost always got sunlight, so plant downtime is minimal. The solar arrays follow the sun, like giant sunflowers, as the moon rotates.

Whipple Crater is perfectly positioned for mining ice. Being near the pole, the crater floor is always in shadow, but the ridge has near-constant daylight.

Scientists have speculated on the origins of the moon’s ice. As I understand the theory, water has been bubbling up from the interior of the moon since its birth in the Great Impact. Over time, it migrates toward the poles and collects in the permanent shadow areas as ice.