There’s Water and Ice on the Moon, and in More Places Than NASA Thought

 Posted by Anna Evers

An article in the NYT has reported that NASA has found unambiguous evidence of water on the moon where the sun shines. A team of scientists used SOFIA, an infrared telescope mounted inside a 747- jumbo jet, to discover that water might be distributed across the lunar surface and not limited to the cold shadowed places near the lunar poles. The water was detected via six-micron waves, that water molecules characteristically emit. This may mean that astronauts going to the moon in the future will not only have access to water, but also possibly oxygen, since water molecules can be broken into their constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The oxygen would give the astronauts something to breathe. Hydrogen and oxygen can also be used as rocket propellant for trips home to Earth or even some day to Mars and beyond.

The article also mentions that observations by a spacecraft a decade ago had also suggested a widespread distribution of water on the moon. Those measurements focused on a shorter, three-micron wavelength that was more ambiguous, unable to differentiate between a water molecule, which consists of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom or hydroxyl, which has one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom. Finding hydroxyl molecules on the moon instead of water would be very disappointing for astronauts.

It can also be dangerous for astronauts to try and extract the water, as it is often found in deep, very cold craters. This water finding was unique because it found water molecules in shallower, warmer craters. Scientists are not yet sure how the molecules can exist here, but they do. The water molecules detected are also not puddles of water but spread far enough apart that they cannot form ice or liquid water. In 2022, NASA is planning to send an IR rover to the moon, and hopefully confirm this new evidence. 

                                                      

         

Hydroxyl vs water molecules