water on moon tagged posts

Schematic of the history of precipitation of moganite and subsurface H2O ice in the Moon. Credit: Masahiro Kayama and M. Sasaoka (SASAMI-GEO-SCIENCE)

A team of researchers led by Masahiro Kayama of Tohoku University has found evidence in a lunar meteorite that water once existed on the moon. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the team describes their study of the meteorite and why they believe it offers evidence of water on the moon. Water on the moon, some have suggested, would be valuable, because it could support a colony—or perhaps be used for other purposes, such as powering spacecraft. But thus far, efforts to find any below the surface in the more temperate regions have come up empty-handed...

This illustration shows a promising new technique for locating water on the Moon. Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) that penetrate the lunar surface, when encountering a layer with material containing hydrogen atoms (like water), trigger the ejection of protons (red spheres) that can be detected by the appropriate instrumentation in an orbiting satellite. Credit: Schwadron et al. 2016

Prior to Apollo missions to the moon, scientists speculated that volatiles – including water – may have accumulated in permanently shaded regions at the poles. Then the Apollo era brought the return of lunar samples, enabling real measurements: They found none of the water-bearing minerals common on Earth. Over the past 10 years, however, several developments have reinvigorated the discussion...