The moon has more water than originally thought

According to the work of two US scientists who analysed the data from the Indian Moon-Orbiter "Chandrayaan-1", the moon contains more water than expected. The mantle of the moon could have similar concentrations of water as the Earth does, Ralph Milliken of the Brown-University in Providence as well as Shuai Li from the University of Hawaii tell us in the professional magazine "Nature Geoscience".

For a long time the Earth's moon was assumed to be dry as a bone, which is connected to it's genesis. Most of the scientists assume, that the moon was created by collision with a celestial body as big as Mars. Normally the water can't survive the heat produced in this process. Nevertheless, scientists of the Apollo-Mission found traces of water in probes from the moon. With a sophisticated analysis Milliken and Li managed to be able to search for water resources in the data collected with the orbiter across wide areas of the moon surface.

The result:

They are spread all over the surface, which means, that the water findings in the Apollo probes don't seem to be a one time occurrence.

Milliken says.

Volcanic material on the moon seems to be water-rich in general.

Origin of water is puzzling

Where the water is coming from is even more puzzling.

According to Li:

The enhancing hints about water on the moon suggest, that water has somehow survived or has been brought shortly after the collision of asteroids or comets, before the moon had time to solidify.

The water resources on the moon could have a very practical usage for exploration, the scientists say. The Apollo probes contain about 0.5 permille water, which potentially could be extracted.

According to Li:

Everything that helps future moon scientists leaving their water on Earth is a big step forward.