The latest spectroscopic data shows that there is water on the Moon’s surface, which can be used to make rocket fuel and oxygen for future exploration.
The article, which just appeared in the journal Nature Geoscience, shocked many people that spectral data had found water on the moon. And it is not uncommon, but widely diffused on the surface of this planet!
The new research goes against previous theories that water exists primarily as ice in craters near the poles. The first signals were recorded several years before being presented to the public. Specifically, in 2009, for the first time, the Indian Chandrayaan-1 spectrometer and two other NASA instruments found signs of water on the surface of the Moon, reflecting sunlight.
Of course, the shape of water is not the same as on Earth, so we cannot see it as a lake or a river in our world. The researchers also say that lunar water can exist in static form and change in cycles, regardless of the composition of the surface on which it exists.
Dr Michael Poston of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), one of the authors of the just published article, explains: “When you divide water molecules, you have oxygen and hydrogen, the components that make up water molecules. Breathe the air and the rocket the fuel.
Scientists are still figuring out what chemical formula the Moon’s water exists in: H2O (water) or OH (hydroxyl), or a mixture of the two, and where it comes from. OH – hydroxyl is the compound that can be used as fuel for rockets.
