The speed with which new discoveries are being made in the field of science, is dizzying.We do not wake up one day without knowing any further progress and, often, we realize the amount of discoveries that are being made This is the case of the finding we want to talk about in today's article.It is about the discovery of water on the moon.
It is the first time that scientists find data that definitively evidence the existence of water on the moon.This is a very important discovery since it could assume that future lunar expeditions could have a water source that, without a doubt, would make it easier to “explore and even stay on the moon,” as as officials from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in the statement about the discovery.
Is there really water on the moon?
The water on the moon was detected in the coldest and darkest regions of the north and south poles , of the moon.It is found in scattered patches in the north and concentrates on permanently shaded craters in the south, where temperatures never rise above-157 degrees Celsius.
Previously, some researchers they proved the existence of water on the moon, specifically in the depths of the lunar surface.There was also evidence of water ice on the surface of the lunar south pole, however.There was no definitive evidence until now.
The discovery of this water on the moon was made by a team of scientists led by Shuai Li, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetology of the University of Hawaii and an article about it was written, which was published on August 20 in Proceedings magazine of the National Academy of Sciences.
The team of scientists analyzed the data obtained by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) aboard Chandrayaan-1, an Indian spacecraft that explored the moon in 2008 and 2009.The data showed three “signatures »Chemicals that demonstrated the presence of water ice, as opposed to liquid water or water vapor.
« The results seem very convincing to me «
Said Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science and astrobiology at Birkbeck, University of London.Crawford was not involved in the research.This discovery can not only help improve lunar missions, the discovery also improves the way to draw water on the moon.
Philip Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida told NBC News MACH:
"It will make missions to Mars more affordable for SpaceX and NASA," "It will also help establish the cislunar economy,"
He said in reference to the commercial companies that link the Moon and the Earth.The idea that the interior of the Moon is full of water raises interesting questions about the formation of the satellite, since the scientists they believe that it was created by the remains left when an object of the size of Mars collided with the Earth in the early stages of the history of the Solar System.com/seo7/img/5d6829e7102b1.jpg "alt=" Why did you find water ice on the Moon has t Anta importance? ">
The experts had assumed that the interior of the moon was dry because it seemed unlikely that the hydrogen that was necessary for the formation of water could have survived the heat of that impact.How then could there be water on the moon?
«The growing evidence of water inside the Moon suggests that the water survived in some way, or that it came shortly after impact of asteroids or comets before the Moon had completely solidified »
Senalo Shuai Li, a scientist at the University of Hawaii and a collaborator with Milliken.Scientists estimate that the deposits are large and the water could be extracted.
In 1994, the Clementine experimental probe already gave the first clues about the possibility of freezing water under important craters polar as the Shackleton, the Haworth or the Svedrup.What in principle was a hypothesis, was finally confirmed, 4 years later, by the lunar Prospector.
The existence of water on other planets besides the Earth is always good news.In Mercury there is also water, however, the water detected there seems to be of greater purity and more abundant than that located on the moon.
Surely, today, Nor are we able to understand the scope of this discovery or all the advantages we can draw from having finally found conclusive evidence that there is water on the moon.
What do you think? What advantages do you think we could get if we were able to locate water on the moon? And in Mercury? Leave us your thoughts on this interesting topic, we will be happy to read you!
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