NASA discovers water on sunlit surface of the Moon

NASA has confirmed the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface.

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.

In an announcement on Monday, Nasa said the molecules discovered are equivalent to a twelve-ounce bottle of water within a cubic meter of lunar soil.

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The water likely arrived at the Moon via one of two ways. It may have been carried there by radiation known as the solar wind, or on tiny meteorites, NASA said.

SOFIA’s results build on years of previous research examining the presence of water on the Moon.

Previous research has found indications of water by scanning the surface -- but these were unable to distinguish between water (H2O) and hydroxyl, a molecule made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom.

SOFIA’s follow-up flights will look for water in additional sunlit locations and during different lunar phases to learn more about how the water is produced, stored, and moved across the Moon.

Scientists still don’t know exactly where the water is being stored on the Moon, or if it can be used at all.

Two papers describing the new discoveries – ‘Molecular water detected on the sunlit Moon by SOFIA’ and ‘Micro cold traps on the Moon’ – are published today in Nature Astronomy.

Using data from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Airborne Telescope, researchers scanned the lunar surface at a more precise wavelength than had been used before -- six microns instead of three.

This allowed them to "unambiguously" distinguish the spectral fingerprint of molecular water, said co-author Casey Honniball, of the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology.

Researchers believe the water might be trapped in glass beads, or another substance that protects it from the harsh lunar environment.

Further observations would help better understand where the water may have come from and how it is stored.

The second study looks at areas of the Moon's polar regions, where water ice is believed to be trapped in lunar craters that never see sunlight.

Large hollows had previously been discovered --NASA in 2009 found water crystals in a deep crater near the Moon's southern pole.

But the new study found evidence of billions of micro-craters that could each cradle a miniscule amount of water ice.

"If you were standing on the Moon near one of the poles, you would see a whole 'galaxy' of little shadows speckled across the surface," said lead author Paul Hayne of the Department of Astrophysics at the University of Colorado.

"Each of these tiny shadows -- most of them smaller than a coin -- would be extremely cold, and most of them cold enough to harbour ice."

This suggests that water could be much more widespread on the Moon than previously thought.

Scientists hope that samples from these cold traps could tell us more about how the Moon -- and even Earth -- got its water, he said, perhaps providing evidence of water delivered by asteroids, comets and the solar wind.

NASA, which plans to establish a space station in the lunar orbit called Gateway, envisages that ice excavated from the Moon's south pole may one day supply drinking water.They could also split the molecules apart to make rocket fuel for an onward journey.

(with inputs)