A team of scientists, including Lawrence A. Taylor, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has discovered the existence of water on the lunar surface.
Previously, the idea of water on the moon has been viewed with great skepticism, resulting from the assumption that the moon rock samples brought back from the Apollo mission were contaminated.
Trace amounts of water were found in the sample boxes, but scientists believed that the samples were contaminated by the presence of air from Earth.
Forty years have passed, and new satellite technology has aided scientists in discovering the composition of lunar soil. The soil contained chemical bonds between hydrogen and oxygen — the molecular make-up of water.
This information was found through the analysis of data collected by a NASA craft known as the Moon Mineralogy Mapper, or M3. Carried by an Indian satellite, this tool processes the information conveyed by light rays the sun reflects off the moon.
Since light is reflected by varying wavelengths after contact with different minerals, scientists are able to use this method to determine which minerals are present in a thin layer of soil.
The M3 searched for traces of bonds between hydrogen and oxygen in the top few centimeters of lunar soil. Scientists were shocked to discover the presence of water within this soil, Taylor said.
“There is a special spectra given off by compounds and molecules containing OH (hydroxyl) and HOH (water),” he said. “These signals are very pronounced and caused our M3 team to argue and discuss this finding for five months, until we were all agreeable to the presence of the water and its probable cause.”
Researchers have decided that this probable cause is solar wind.
When the sun generates nuclear fusion, it creates protons that are positively charged hydrogen atoms. Lacking the protection of an atmosphere similar to the Earth, the moon’s surface is constantly being attacked by this fast-moving hydrogen.
Since the moon’s soil is largely composed of oxygen, the impact of these hydrogen particles is thought to be strong enough to break apart oxygen bonds present in the soil. Thus, water is formed on the moon.
“What we have discovered is a type of water that has a most unusual origin, being the result of solar-wind bombardment of the highly reactive lunar soil,” Taylor said.
The results of these findings by scientists from the U.S. and India were reported in the online journal Scientific Express. The findings could prove extremely valuable in the future as NASA plans to return to the moon. Maps created with this research data could help astronauts locate useful water within the lunar soil.
“The ability of utilizing in-situ resources greatly facilitates our space exploration,” Yang Liu, a research associate working with Taylor on planetary sciences and lunar exploration, said. “The finding of ‘water’ on the lunar surface opens doors for more economical space exploration.”
Further implications for this research could be even more extensive in the future.
“The NASA crash lander, LCROSS, on October 9 will bring more supporting evidence for our find,” Taylor said. “We would hope that all this will lead to humans returning to the moon to establish a launching point, away from Earth’s gravity, from which to refuel and go onward to Mars and beyond into the solar system.”
This discovery was made possible by a partnership between NASA and UT to fund Taylor’s work.
“This has supplied funding for beaucoup students, postdocs, instrumentation, etc. that the university would not otherwise have been able to afford,” Taylor said. “This is but one example of what we do as professors to help the university, as they provide the best education for the money for all the students.”
