NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed water on the sunlit surface of the moon for the first time. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places according to a statement by NASA.
Scientists think that the water could be stored inside glass bead-like structure within the soil that can be smaller than the tip of the pencil. Water or H2O molecules were detected in the Clavius crater, one of the largest craters visible from earth located in the moon’s southern hemisphere. The data revealed, water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million, roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water trapped in a cubic meter of the soil spread across the lunar surface.
The results are published in the latest Nature Astronomy. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space explorations. Also, it raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface.
Several forces could be at play in the distribution or creation of this water. Micrometeorites raining on the lunar surface, carrying small amounts of water, could deposit water on the lunar surface upon impact. Another possibility is that there could be a two-step process by which the Sun’s solar wind supplies hydrogen to the lunar surface and causes a chemical reaction with the oxygen-containing minerals in the soil to create a hydroxyl. Meanwhile, the radiation from the bombardment of micrometeorites could transform this hydroxyl into water.
This discovery is more than a scientific interest to NASA. With the ARTEMIS program NASA will land the first woman and the next man to the lunar surface in 2024 and establish a sustainable human presence by the end of the decade. At the moon we prepare for human explorations of water. One of the things we don’t know yet whether the water detected by SOFIA on the sunlit surface is accessible for use of the surface.
SOFIA is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace center. Ames manages the SOFIA program, science and mission operations in cooperation with the Universities Space Research Association. The headquarters is located at Columbia Maryland and German SOFIA Institute in the University of Stuttgart.
Reference: NASA
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