Ice found on moon surface

[Rhiannon12866]

Patches of frost around moon’s north and south poles could provide a source of water for humans, say astronomers


Astronomers have found patches of frost scattered around the moon’s north and south poles which could one day provide a source of water for human visitors.

The scientists spotted the telltale signature of frozen water in infrared measurements taken by Nasa’s moon mineralogy mapper, an instrument that flew on India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission to the moon a decade ago.

The freshly-analysed data show that water ice lurks on the ground in a number of spots near the moon’s polar regions that are permanently in shade and so sheltered from the heat of the sun’s rays.

Most of the ice was found near the moon’s south pole around a cluster of craters named after scientists and explorers, including Haworth, Shoemaker, Sverdrup and Shackleton. In the north, the patches of ice appeared to be more isolated, according to Shuai Li at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in Honolulu.

Follow-up measurements of the ice patches found that they tended to form where the surface temperature never crept above -163C, but temperature alone was not enough to guarantee frozen water: only 3.5% of the shadowy areas the scientists checked for water revealed notable signs of ice.


More: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/20/ice-found-on-moon-surface

[Judi Lynn]

1. Great news, Rhiannon. So unexpected.

Going to be looking forward so much to all the follow ups on this breakthrough.

Thank you.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I sure agree!

This is such big news that I checked to make sure this was reported by other sources. I'm looking forward to hearing more too - a lot of important stories that would normally make the news get overlooked these days - except for here on DU.

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's great when we can get some brand new information which is also interesting, and exciting!

After a year of Trump, we're almost dying for it!

All this time, ice on the moon. I love this.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. This would normally be breaking news - until Trump Tweets a nasty insult to somebody

And I agree this is very exciting! And after all this time - I actually got to see the moon landing even though I was away at summer camp. My friend and I were in the right place at the right time and the camp nurse called us in to watch this historical moment on her little TV!

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Found another article on one of your sources: Scientists find definitive evidence of water on Moon

A team of scientists led by Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University claim to have found definitive evidence of water ice at both north and south poles of the Moon. Using data from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter, the new discovery indicates that not only is water present on the Moon, but it is readily accessible from the surface.

If humanity is ever to be more than a visitor to the Moon, future explorers will have to quickly learn how to exploit the local lunar resources. Key to these is water. Not only is this most basic of human needs required for drinking, washing, and growing food, but it is also a vital source of oxygen for breathing and fuel to send rockets on deep space missions.

Though the presence of water on the Moon has been speculated on for over a century and evidence of its existence goes back to the Apollo missions of the 1970s, there hasn't been much in the way of definitive proof of its presence. There were flashes of light from deep craters that might have been ice, but could also have been shiny rocks. There was also spectroscopic evidence that might have been water molecules, but could have been hydrates locked up in minerals. On top of that, if water was present, it might have been sealed in deep strata miles under the lunar surface.

Now the M3 data shows that there are ice deposits at the north and south pole. The southern ice is concentrated in craters that are perpetually shadow-bound, while the northern ice is distributed widely, yet sparsely. This conclusion is based on three specific spectral signatures from light reflected off the deposits. These not only showed the presence of water, but also the infrared band determined that it is ice rather than water or vapor.

According to NASA, the water ice lies in the dark craters where the temperatures remain below -250⁰ F (-157⁰ C) and the Sun never shines to warm them. In addition, the readings indicate that the ice lies on the surface or within a few millimeters, so it is readily available for future mining.


https://newatlas.com/water-moon-evidence-nasa/55983/

[NBachers]

5. This is a vitally important key to developing human outposts on the moon.

[SCantiGOP]

7. More importantly

The Space Force can use the water to mix their Tang.