The Moon has water at places where non had been detected before and has potentially more water than previously believed in regions where it was already understood to exist.
In two separate studies in Nature Astronomy, scientists have reported findings with potentially huge implications for sustaining humans on the Moon in the future.
One study reports the detection of water on Moon’s regions, which potentially contain ice, is more widespread than thoughts.
Apart from being a marker of potential life, water is a precious resource in deep space.
For astronauts landing on the Moon, water is necessary not only to sustain life but also for purposes such as generating rocket fuel.
Nasa’s Artemis programme plans to send the first woman and the next man to the Moon in 2024 and hopes to establish a “sustainable human presence” there by the end of the decade.
If space explorers can use the Moon’s resources, it means they need to carry less water from Earth.
Previous Moon studies, including by the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) Chandrayaan-1 mission, have provided evidence for the existence of water.
In 2009, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard Chandrayaan-1 found water molecules in the polar regions.
A paper in Nature Geoscience in August 2013 analysed M3 data to report the detection of magmatic water (water originating from the deep interiors) on the Moon’s surface.
However, what was not established in such studies- based on observations by the Chandrayaan-1 mission, NASA’s ground Cassini and Deep Impact comet mission, NASA’s ground-based Infrared Telescope Facility-
Was whether the detected molecules were water or in the form of hydroxyl.
This time, it is water molecules, discovered in Clavius Crater in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
And it is the first time water has been detected on the sunlight side, showing it is not restricted to the shadowy regions.
SOFIA, which is a modified Boeing 747SP jetliner that flies at altitudes up to 45,000 feet,
Has an infrared camera that picked up the wavelength unique to water molecules.
The data showed water in concentrated of 100–412 parts per million trapped in 1 cubic meter of soil.