A groundbreaking new study has revealed that the Moon is far more water-rich than previously thought, with multiple sources of water and hydroxyl found across its surface. This discovery opens up exciting possibilities for future lunar exploration and resource utilization.
Water in the Sunlit Regions
Mapping of water and hydroxyl on the Moon has long indicated that it is not only spatially restricted to polar regions and deeply shadowed craters. If not at the poles, those resources span much of the lunar surface—even in sunlit regions near the equator—accessible to humans and robots, viewed as essential for long-duration lunar exploration.
Infrared Spectroscopy permitted researchers to discern the unique fingerprints of water (H2O) and hydroxyl (OH) in the Moon-crossed sunlight. Such a discovery is significant because it could present future astronauts access to water resources from more areas than we had previously thought, making the potential for living off the land that much higher in any future lunar exploration or settlement effort.
The Science Behind the Discovery
A team of researchers led by Senior Scientist Roger Clark comes to explore further the intricate geology of the Moon to fathom the widespread occurrence and migration dynamics of water and its discriminant.
The water on the moon is “metastable”–neither seeming to produce it nor destroy it, but remains, and in the process of being slowly erased over millions of years. Cratering events that expose water-rich rocks to the solar wind degrade the H2O over time, such that a thin layer of hydroxyl is spread throughout the uppermost surface.
The team also finds that water and hydroxyl absorption strengths vary during the day as the sun moves. This is not because these molecules evaporate, but rather because a very thin surface layer of the lunar soil has different composition or particle size from deeper layers.
By understanding these complicated processes, researchers were able to generate a more holistic view of water and hydroxyl on the Moon which can inform future utilization of lunar resources.
Conclusion
The widespread water ice and OH sources on the Moon are a breakthrough for future lunar exploration, establishing in-situ resources to support long-term human presence on Earth’s satellite. Moon Express hopes that now it can extract these vital resources from several more places than ever before, making the moon’s trove of hidden gems a whole lot easier to harvest. Armed with this knowledge, we not only get a better picture of the Moon’s geologic history, but we finally have one of the most important pieces to pave the way for lasting human exploration on our celestial neighbor.
