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Basically, water is also found in areas illuminated by the Sun and is distributed on the surface of the Moon, its presence not being limited only in the polar and shaded areas. The findings were presented by NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
NASA says that water is much more widespread on the Moon than previously thought and that water is also found in craters much smaller and shallower than very large ones in the area of the poles.
A study shows that on the Moon there are a multitude of microcraters at the bottom of which frozen water can be found. Temperatures even reach -240 degrees in these craters called “micro cold traps”, making them among the coldest places in the solar system.
These small “reservoirs” of frozen water could be very useful for future monthly missions, as the water could be used by astronauts. In the medium term, NASA would like the Moon to be the starting point for manned missions to Mars.
Not only will the ice be useful for turning into drinking water, but the molecules could be “broken” by chemical processes into oxygen and hydrogen atoms, and the oxygen could be used for astronauts to breathe. Hydrogen and oxygen could also be used to develop fuel for return to Earth and for missions to Mars, especially since if fewer things could be transported from Earth, monthly missions would become simpler. Obviously, it will be many years before that stage is reached.
As the Moon has almost no atmosphere, the temperatures are extreme, where the Sun beats can be +127 degrees, and in areas without illumination they drop below -240 degrees. The average temperature is -35 degrees on the Moon, while on Earth the average is +15 degrees.
SOFIA also detected water molecules in Clavius crater, one of the largest visible on Earth and located in the southern lunar hemisphere. Past observations had detected a form of hydrogen on the Moon’s surface, but could not distinguish between water and its “relative” nearby chemical OH (hydroxyl group). Current data from Clavius crater show a concentration of 100 to 412 parts per million, the equivalent of a 350 ml bottle of water, trapped in a cubic meter of soil strewn on the lunar surface, NASA explains.
“We have indications that H2O, such a familiar water, may be present on the sunlit side,” said Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division. “It just came to our attention then. The discovery changes the understanding of the lunar surface and raises pertinent questions about the resources relevant to exploring distant outer space,” he adds.
The moon is about 384,000 km from Earth.
The Moon was thought to be an extremely arid star, until 2008 when researchers discovered water molecules within magma brought back by astronauts from the Apollo missions.
It was frozen water from the bottom of large craters in lunar areas always out of the sun’s rays, near the poles, where temperatures are extremely low.
