A great discovery was made by scientists on USA, as they found that water on the moon may be more abundant and accessible than previously thought.
ΟPaul Hayne at the University of Colorado Boulder and his team used camera images and temperature measurements taken from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to map cold, permanently shaded areas on the moon, which are believed to be the places most likely to contain ice due to non-exposure to sunlight.
While there was ample evidence of water on the moon, these "cold traps" were previously thought to be confined to craters miles wide and deep. However, the team found that there are also micro-cold traps, areas that are permanently shaded and thus could contain more accessible ice. Overall, the researchers estimate that cold traps occupy approximately 40.000 square kilometers or about 0,1% of the surface of the Moon.
«We see billions and billions of these cold traps on a scale never seen before.", Said Hayne. «This gives us the opportunity to export ice much more easily. We think this is revolutionary in terms of what will be possible for astronauts on the moon".
A separate study further confirmed the presence of ice water (H2O) rather than hydroxyl (OH), which previous investigations could not distinguish between them. THE Casey Honniball at the space flight center NASA Goddard in Maryland and her colleagues used the telescope SOFIA of the organism, which is mounted on a plane to get a clearer view of the Earth's atmosphere, to detect a spectral signature that is unique to water. «I shouted with enthusiasm", Said the Honiball.
Η Honiball stressed that the measurements are consistent with the presence of individual water molecules embedded in grains within the lunar surface. «This form of water is expected to be widespread on the surface».
«Water is a central element of human life, but it is expensive to launch into spaceHonniball pointed out. "Finding water on the moon can mean that we can use the water there instead of bringing water with us."
However, it is not yet clear how stable the water is in this form for long periods of time, he said. William Bottke of Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. «Astronauts can also have great difficulty extracting this water", says. "For example, to fill a bottle, astronauts may need to process thousands of pounds of rock."
