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Scientists have found a lot of water on the Moon

Scientists have found strong evidence that the Moon can contain a huge amount of water in its structure. This fact can be very useful for future studies of the lunar surface.

Scientific research

A scientific study was conducted by scientists from Brown University in Rhode Island and published in Nature Geoscience. Scientists have studied the process of trapping water in a volcanic glass through the lunar surface. The remains of lunar volcanism are billions of years old.

"The historical view was that the Moon was an absolutely dry planet," said lead author Ralph Milliken. "But we continue to admit that this is not true, and in fact the planet can be much more similar to the Earth in terms of the presence of water and other volatile gases."

Previous scientific works

Previous studies used samples obtained during the space missions of Apollo ships 15 and 17, in 1971 and 1972, the purpose of which was to study water on the Moon.

In 2008, scientists found trace amounts of water in some of the beads, consisting of volcanic glass. It was supposed that the Moon could be wet.

Even small amounts of water on the Moon would be enough to create significant deposits of volcanic glass. When the lava is formed with incredible speed, its molecular structure does not have time to rebuild itself into a "normal" stony body and instead becomes glass. Small drops of lava, thrown into the air, usually turn into a vitreous body, but sudden cooling in water has the same effect.

Although previous studies focused on samples brought by Apollo, in this latest scientific research instead of this material, satellite data obtained on the lunar orbiter of India Chandarayaan-1 was used. Studying the light reflected from the surface of the moon, the researchers were able to find out what kind of minerals are present on it.

Water structure on the Moon

Almost in all the large pyroclastic deposits on the surface of the Moon, which is a rocky planet composed of a volcanic eruption, the researchers found evidence of the presence of water in the form of beads made of volcanic glass. This suggests that parts of the mantle of the moon can contain as much water as there are on Earth.

"The water that we find can be either OH (hydroxide of a mineral) or H 2 O, but we suspect that it is primarily HE," the scientist Milliken stated.

The Importance of Discovery

It is unclear whether this water was brought to the moon by comets or asteroids, or perhaps already was present in its structure. Of interest is that it can be obtained much more easily than frozen in ice at the poles. Water can be extracted from the pellets by heating them to high temperatures.

"Anything that helps to facilitate the work of future lunar researchers from having to use a lot of water from home is a big step forward, and our conclusions open up a new alternative for humanity," the study's co-author Shuai Li said.

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