Scientists: Moon Holds More Water than Ever Thought
2020-10-28
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1The moon may hold water in more places and in larger amounts than scientists have suggested in the past.
2The finding is based on two studies - published in Nature Astonomy - that examined new data from the U.S. space agency NASA.
3The discovery could be important for planned, long-term human bases on the moon.
4It could mean that enough resources exist on the moon itself to provide drinking water and possibly help produce rocket fuel.
5Until about 10 years ago, scientists believed the moon was mostly dry.
6Then, a series of findings provided evidence that water ice was widespread in small amounts on parts of the moon.
7The ice was thought to be in areas permanently blocked from sunlight.
8But in one of the new studies, NASA said it was able to confirm the presence of water molecules on sunlit parts of the lunar surface.
9The space agency says the identification came from data collected by its SOFIA airborne observatory.
10SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft equipped with a powerful telescope.
11The research was led by Casey Honniball of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
12"Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," Honniball said in a statement.
13"Yet somehow we're seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there."
14Scientists have suggested the source of the water may have been comets, asteroids, solar wind or interplanetary dust.
15The new research provides evidence the water may be surviving on sunlit lunar surfaces because it is attached to minerals.
16"A lot of people think that the detection I've made is water ice, which is not true," Honniball told a news conference to announce the finding.
17"It's just the water molecules - because they're so spread out they don't interact with each other to form water ice or even liquid water."
18The second study centered on so-called "cold traps" on the moon.
19These are areas of the lunar surface that exist in a state of permanent darkness where temperatures are below about minus 160 degrees Celsius.
20Scientists say temperatures this cold can hold frozen water for billions of years.
21Researchers say they were able to reconstruct the size of the cold traps and where they sit from images and temperature readings from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
22They identified cold traps as small as a few meters across and others as wide as 30 kilometers.
23Planetary scientist Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado, Boulder led the research on cold traps.
24He estimated there are likely "tens of billions" of traps.
25"Since the little ones are too small to see from orbit, despite being vastly more numerous, we can't yet identify ice inside them," Hayne said.
26"Once we're on the surface, we will do that experiment."
27Hayne's team says the new research suggests more than 40,000 square kilometers of the moon's surface may have the ability to trap water in the form of ice.
28That estimate is 20 percent bigger than predicted in the past, Hayne said.
29Jacob Bleacher is the chief exploration scientist for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.
30He told reporters the agency believes it is very important to find out more about where the water came from and how accessible it is.
31"Water is extremely critical for deep space exploration. It's a resource of direct value for our astronauts," Bleacher said.
32He noted that water is heavy and costly to transport from Earth.
33"Anytime we don't need to pack water for our trip, we have an opportunity to take other useful items with us," he said.
34That may include materials that could be used to carry out bigger scientific experiments on the moon.
35I'm Bryan Lynn.
1The moon may hold water in more places and in larger amounts than scientists have suggested in the past. 2The finding is based on two studies - published in Nature Astonomy - that examined new data from the U.S. space agency NASA. The discovery could be important for planned, long-term human bases on the moon. It could mean that enough resources exist on the moon itself to provide drinking water and possibly help produce rocket fuel. 3Until about 10 years ago, scientists believed the moon was mostly dry. Then, a series of findings provided evidence that water ice was widespread in small amounts on parts of the moon. The ice was thought to be in areas permanently blocked from sunlight. 4But in one of the new studies, NASA said it was able to confirm the presence of water molecules on sunlit parts of the lunar surface. The space agency says the identification came from data collected by its SOFIA airborne observatory. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft equipped with a powerful telescope. 5The research was led by Casey Honniball of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," Honniball said in a statement. "Yet somehow we're seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there." 6Scientists have suggested the source of the water may have been comets, asteroids, solar wind or interplanetary dust. The new research provides evidence the water may be surviving on sunlit lunar surfaces because it is attached to minerals. 7"A lot of people think that the detection I've made is water ice, which is not true," Honniball told a news conference to announce the finding. "It's just the water molecules - because they're so spread out they don't interact with each other to form water ice or even liquid water." 8The second study centered on so-called "cold traps" on the moon. These are areas of the lunar surface that exist in a state of permanent darkness where temperatures are below about minus 160 degrees Celsius. Scientists say temperatures this cold can hold frozen water for billions of years. 9Researchers say they were able to reconstruct the size of the cold traps and where they sit from images and temperature readings from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They identified cold traps as small as a few meters across and others as wide as 30 kilometers. 10Planetary scientist Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado, Boulder led the research on cold traps. He estimated there are likely "tens of billions" of traps. "Since the little ones are too small to see from orbit, despite being vastly more numerous, we can't yet identify ice inside them," Hayne said. "Once we're on the surface, we will do that experiment." 11Hayne's team says the new research suggests more than 40,000 square kilometers of the moon's surface may have the ability to trap water in the form of ice. That estimate is 20 percent bigger than predicted in the past, Hayne said. 12Jacob Bleacher is the chief exploration scientist for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. He told reporters the agency believes it is very important to find out more about where the water came from and how accessible it is. 13"Water is extremely critical for deep space exploration. It's a resource of direct value for our astronauts," Bleacher said. He noted that water is heavy and costly to transport from Earth. 14"Anytime we don't need to pack water for our trip, we have an opportunity to take other useful items with us," he said. That may include materials that could be used to carry out bigger scientific experiments on the moon. 15I'm Bryan Lynn. 16The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and NASA reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 17We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, and visit our Facebook page. 18________________________________________________ 19Words in This Story 20generate - v. to produce something or to cause it to be produced 21asteroid - n. objects made of rock and metal which orbit the sun, but are smaller than planets 22detect - v. to discover or noticed the presence of something 23vastly - adv. to a very great extend in an extremely large way 24accessible - adj. able to be reached or to be used 25opportunity - n. a period of time or situation when something can be done