Researchers find new evidence of water on the moon

If there was water on the moon, it would be very useful for future lunar missions. Researchers now have new evidence of such a memory.

US researchers have found new evidence of water on the moon. There are both indications of water molecules on the surface and of areas on the moon where water could be permanently preserved as ice, two teams of scientists report in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Water resources on the moon would be particularly important for future lunar missions.

Water molecules in the areas near the poles

In the first study, researchers led by Casey Honniball of the University of Hawaii in Honolulu analyzed data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia), one of the US space agency NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on air travel. The telescope converted the Boeing 747. While examining the Clavius ​​crater south of Earth’s satellite, they found evidence of water molecules. They suspect that these could be kept mainly in glass beads or in crevices in the rubble on the surface. In general, they assume that water molecules are more likely to occur in areas near the polar than in other regions closer to the lunar equator.

In the second study, a team led by Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado at Boulder specifically looked for craters, crevices, and small areas where water ice could form. Using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and theoretical models, they searched for so-called cold traps – areas that are permanently in the shade where water ice could be preserved due to constant cold. In addition to impact craters, this also includes smaller areas that are always shielded from the sun’s rays.

According to the study, an area of ​​40,000 square kilometers could be in permanent shadow on the moon, about double what other studies have assumed. In theory, frozen water could be stored there. As expected, most of these regions are found in the polar regions of the celestial body; researchers identify 60% of areas in the southern hemisphere.

Possibility of manned lunar stations

“If you imagine standing on the surface of the moon near one of the poles, you would see shadows everywhere,” Hayne reads in a statement from her university. “Many of these little shadows could be full of ice.” Researchers cite Shackleton Crater at the South Pole, which is more than four kilometers deep and over 20 kilometers in diameter, as an example of larger areas with water ice. Much of this crater is in eternal shadow.

For a long time the satellite was considered dry bone. But for several years there has been growing scientific evidence that the moon may have more water than expected. As early as 1994, NASA’s “Clementine” probe had provided evidence of water in shady craters. Ten years ago, NASA’s “LCROSS” lunar mission proved that there was water ice in an eternally dark crater at the south pole of Earth’s satellite. Other findings followed. Water resources would be extremely important for research on Earth’s satellite, for example for manned lunar stations.

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