This is good news for astronauts conquering the moon and relying on local resources, who will only have to remove the moon's dust to get this water.
In the future, astronauts going to the moon will be able to quench their thirst, take a bath and use water as fuel for their spacecraft.
The discovery was made in a paper published in The Planetary Science Journal by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Rapidly emerging evidence suggests that the moon has more water than expected, hidden in shady pits at both poles, research suggests that much of this water may have come from the massive volcanic eruptions that caused the lava flow to create craters on the surface of the moon, where water vapor accumulates. Are frozen at latitudes.
The leading author of the dissertation, Andrew Wilkowski, a graduate student in astronomy and planetary sciences, and the University of Colorado, said in a statement: "We see it (water) as frozen ice on the moon that has accumulated over time."
Over a long period of time, there could have been layers of snow dozens or even several feet thick. This is good news for astronauts conquering the moon and relying on local resources, who will only have to remove the moon's dust to get this (water).
Paul Hahn, co-author of the study and an assistant professor of astrophysics and planetary science, said in a statement: We really need to drill and find it.
Recent evidence points to an even more hydrated moon than scientists expected.
In the year 2020, the US space agency NASA had said in its research that the ice containing water on the moon can be melted by being in the shade even in sunny places instead of evaporating in the intense heat of the sun. However, it is unclear where the ice water came from.
The new article highlights 2017 research that found that about three and a half billion years ago, a lunar eruption released so much gaseous material that the lunar atmosphere had one and a half times the surface pressure on Mars. It was born, but this lunar atmosphere disappeared in space over a period of 70 million years.
However, Dr. Hein and Wilkowski believe that the eruption will cause water vapor to freeze on the surface of the moon like ice.
Their computer modeling suggests that not only would water ice have formed in this way, but also about 18 quadrillion pounds of water vapor, or about 41% of the water vapor that came out of active lunar volcanoes. Will be frozen like ice.
This amount of water is even higher than Lake Michigan and could be great news for NASA as the US space agency plans to send a man back to the moon in 2025 under its Artemis program. Starting in 2027, almost every year, a mission will be sent to the moon.
Water is a heavy tool to carry in space and still needs to be carried. Astronauts need it to drink, grow food and fuel rockets, while spacecraft from Earth can supply astronauts on the moon in very small quantities, so NASA is looking for places where it can. Be readily available.
While the Artemis mission will study the moon, NASA plans to use it as a training ground and launching pad for the final mission to Mars.
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