the implications of the discovery of water on the Moon
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:07 pmShattering a long-held belief that Earth's moon is a dead and dry world, a trio of spacecraft uncovered clear evidence of water and hydrogen-oxygen molecules throughout the lunar surface.
"There's no question that there is OH [hydroxyl, which is made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom] and H2O on the moon," University of Maryland senior research scientist Jessica Sunshine told Discovery News.
"It's still pretty damn dry, drier than anything we have here. But we've found this dynamic, ongoing process and the moon was supposedly dead," she said. "This is a real paradigm shift."
Aside from scientific interest, finding water on the moon could impact plans for eventual human settlements beyond Earth, said geologist Paul Spudis, with the Houston-based Lunar and Planetary Institute.
"It's a potential resource," Spudis told Discovery News. "If you think there's a long-term future in space, at some point you have to learn to use what you find in space to make new capabilities."
Scientists have suspected water could exist inside deep craters at the moon's poles that are never exposed to sunlight. The new research is surprising because it found chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen throughout the lunar surface. The concentrations appear denser near the polar regions.
How much water and hydroxyl is on the moon and where it came from remains a mystery.
"There's no question that there is OH [hydroxyl, which is made up of one hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom] and H2O on the moon," University of Maryland senior research scientist Jessica Sunshine told Discovery News.
"It's still pretty damn dry, drier than anything we have here. But we've found this dynamic, ongoing process and the moon was supposedly dead," she said. "This is a real paradigm shift."
Aside from scientific interest, finding water on the moon could impact plans for eventual human settlements beyond Earth, said geologist Paul Spudis, with the Houston-based Lunar and Planetary Institute.
"It's a potential resource," Spudis told Discovery News. "If you think there's a long-term future in space, at some point you have to learn to use what you find in space to make new capabilities."
Scientists have suspected water could exist inside deep craters at the moon's poles that are never exposed to sunlight. The new research is surprising because it found chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen throughout the lunar surface. The concentrations appear denser near the polar regions.
How much water and hydroxyl is on the moon and where it came from remains a mystery.