Scientists detect hydrogen in lunar samples. It indicates availability of water on Moon surface

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has carried out many Apollo missions to explore the Moon. The missions also returned with 382 kilogrammes of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand, and dust from the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. The samples have provided scientists with valuable insight into the universe.

The latest analysis on the Moon, published in the "Communications Earth & Environment" journal on November 15, has for the first time revealed the presence of hydrogen and the findings suggest that future astronauts could someday use water available right on the Moon for life support and rocket fuel.

Researchers with the US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) announced last week that they discovered hydrogen in lunar soil sample 79221. The sample was given to the researchers by NASA for a research study. The observed hydrogen is assumed to have been created by the Moon's constant showers of solar wind and perhaps comet strikes.

In a press release published on NRL News on November 21, the lead author Katherine Burgess, who is a geologist at NRL, said: "Hydrogen has the potential to be a resource that can be used directly on the lunar surface when there are more regular or permanent installations there."

"Locating resources and understanding how to collect them prior to getting to the moon is going to be incredibly valuable for space exploration," Burgess added.

The research team, which is led by experts from NRL's Materials Science and Technology Division, is still studying lunar surface and asteroidal samples to learn more about how surfaces interact with the space environment, a process known as space weathering.

In previous studies on Apollo samples, researchers have verified the presence of solar wind helium in lunar soil grains.

Dr Burgess further said, "This is the first time scientists have demonstrated the detection of hydrogen-bearing species within vesicles in lunar samples."

"Previously, the same team at NRL used state-of-the-art techniques such as scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy to detect helium in lunar samples, and other researchers have found water in other planetary samples, but this is the first publication to show hydrogen in-situ in lunar samples," she added.