NASA Directly Observes Definitive Evidence Of Water Ice On Moon For First Time

NASA scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon's surface for the first time. The evidence of water ice was found in the darkest and coldest parts of the polar regions of the moon. Scientists say that these ice deposits are patchily distributed and could be ancient.

Most of the ice is concentrated at lunar craters in the south pole and in the north pole the ice is more widely, but sparsely spread. The evidence was gathered using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) and identified three specific signatures that definitively prove water ice is on the surface of the moon.

NASA says that the M3 instrument aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organization was uniquely equipped to confirm water ice on the Moon. That instrument collected data on reflective properties expected of ice and was able to directly measure the distinctive way molecules in the ice absorb infrared light. That allowed the instrument to tell the difference between liquid water or vapor and solid ice.

The ice lies in the shadow of craters near the poles. In those areas, the temperatures never reach above minus 250-degrees Fahrenheit. Sunlight never reaches those regions due to the slight tilt to the rotational axis of the Moon.

NASA says that with enough ice sitting at the surface of the Moon, within the top few millimeters of soil, water could be accessible as a resource for future expeditions. NASA wants to learn more about the ice, how it got there, and how it interacts with the lunar environment in the future.

SOURCE: NASA