The moon has long been regarded as a barren, lifeless place, devoid of any liquid water. However, recent discoveries have revealed that this may not be entirely true.

Data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has shown that there may be water ice located in the permanently shadowed craters of the moon’s polar regions. These craters are areas that never receive sunlight, meaning that temperatures within them can remain at a constant -238 degrees Celsius, making them some of the coldest places in the solar system.

Credit: European Space Agency

The water ice is believed to have been deposited over billions of years by comets and asteroids, which collided with the moon’s surface. The ice is thought to be mixed in with the moon’s soil, or regolith, and may be present in concentrations of up to 20% in some areas.

This discovery is particularly significant for the future of space exploration, as water is a crucial resource for sustaining human life. The water on the moon could potentially be extracted and used to provide drinking water, oxygen, and rocket fuel for future manned missions to the moon and beyond.

In 2009, NASA’s LCROSS mission purposely crashed a spacecraft into the Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole, causing a plume of debris to be ejected from the impact site. Analysis of the plume revealed the presence of water molecules, confirming the existence of water on the moon.

Since then, several other missions have been launched to study the moon’s water, including India’s Chandrayaan-1 and China’s Chang’e 5. These missions have provided valuable data on the distribution and abundance of water on the moon’s surface.

In 2020 the SOFIA flying observatory (A specially outfitted 747 that carries a telescope) found there to be 12 ounces of water per cubic meter of surface lunar soil. Remarkable about these findings are the results are for Sun lit areas of the moon and not just for the dark unlit craters as previously believed to be the only place on the moon holding water.

Credit: NASA/Jim Ross

The discovery of water on the moon is a significant step forward in our understanding of our nearest neighbor, and has opened up exciting new possibilities for the future of space exploration.

Author: Luna Starlight