Water Found on the Moon

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on September 24, 2009 at 11:48 am


As they say, the third time is the charm. Three different missions to the moon have relayed back evidence of water. There were traces of water in the moon rocks brought back by Apollo, but that was attributed to contamination. Three more recent examinations have found evidence of water: India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe detected water by mapping wavelengths of light from the moon’s surface, the Cassini probe found evidence of global distribution of the water signal, and the Deep Impact spacecraft found evidence by infrared detection.

“The Deep Impact observations of the Moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water/hydroxyl] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day,” the authors wrote in their study.

The findings of all three spacecraft “provide unambiguous evidence for the presence of hydroxyl or water,” said Paul Lucey of the University of Hawaii in an opinion essay accompanying the three studies. Lucey was not involved in any of the missions.

The new data “prompt a critical reexamination of the notion that the moon is dry. It is not,” Lucey wrote.

The amount of water on the moon is miniscule by Earth standards, with one ton of lunar surface holding about 32 ounces. Link -via Digg


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11 comments to "Water Found on the Moon"

  1. -H
    September 24th, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Go India!

  2. zenno
    September 24th, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    I have to laugh at these idiot scientists. it took 41 years to figure that theres water in the moon rocks. the stupidity of scientists working for nasa their funding should be stopped now permenantly. it took billions of dollors of taxpayers money just to find that out. what a joke.

  3. dashon
    September 24th, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Zenno, you say that like they spent billions with finding water as their only goal. There is 41 years worth of information and technology development that has benefited the entire world thanks to the space programme. Get a grip and allow time and the growth of the human race to march forward. Such narrow sightedness benefits no one.

  4. Berick Cook
    September 24th, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Where there's water, there's possibility for life. After all, we already know that there are extremophiles on Earth that can survive the vacuum of space.

  5. Foreigner1
    September 24th, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Zenno the amount of water on the moon is so low that they speak of 32 OUNCES of water per 1 TON of dirt.
    And so they say that is far less than even in the driest desertplace anywhere on Earth.

    So that is like far worse than looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack- That is like looking for the broken pinhead... So on Earth if you measure that kind of amount of almost any substance, you have to triple or even more often chack if you by accident did not slightly contaminate your measuring equipment.

    It is even said that with current state of technology it is about near to impossible to win that water from the Moon-soil. Ooky, it is there. but most of our current equipment is far too cumbersome and not refined to get it.

    And yet it is important and there will be use for it some day, because even that tiny amount of water would cost a Fat Bundle if we would have to haul it up from Earth all the way to Moon-surface.

  6. zenno
    September 24th, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    dashon ? it did cost a couple of billion dollors to explore the moon only. sending man to the moon to test for minerals and bring back soil samples and moonrock including sending satellites as well for 41 years. and it took 41 years just about to find this out and all next door on our closest neighbouring satellite seems to be a complete waste of money as the money should be used for more important things like saving lives. when all thats sorted then pump the money into space exploration.

  7. Alex
    September 24th, 2009 at 11:59 pm

    I suspect when scientists finally cured cancer, zenno will be back with another "idiot scientists only took 70 years to cure cancer" kind of comment. :)

  8. Foreigner1
    September 25th, 2009 at 12:04 am

    The ironic thing about this new find of water on the moon is that it will spur ways to filter out tiny quantities of substances more than any other need here on Earth. And tech is that exactly what we need to fight pollution on our own planet.

    There are lots of scenario's to put lots of polluting industries outside our planet on the moon. This would benefit the ecology on our own planet greatly, since we are still developing more and more toxic needs to do the things we want to in our drive to get more and more technically developed.

    So the word "seems" is the defining one, because in fact it is not.

  9. free games for kids
    September 25th, 2009 at 1:32 am

    Guess this makes it easier getting a cup of Starbucks on the moon.

  10. ray
    September 25th, 2009 at 11:44 am

    a very uniq thesis being brought up here and good for the findings and realy hats off towards the indian scientists and hope there will be more to come soon

  11. FishBottleT
    September 25th, 2009 at 1:35 pm

    I will be interested what implications this will create when looking for water on other planets.


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