Moon's water is useful resource, says Nasa
There are oases of water-rich soil that could sustain astronauts on the Moon, according to Nasa.
Scientists studied the full results of an experiment that smashed a rocket and a probe into a lunar crater last year.
The impacts kicked up large amounts of rock and dust, revealing a suite of fascinating chemical compounds and far more water than anyone had imagined.
A Nasa-led team tells Science magazine that about 155kg of water vapour and water-ice were blown out of the crater.
The researchers' analysis suggests some areas of lunar regolith, or soil, must contain as much as 5% by weight of water-ice.
"That's a significant amount of water," said Anthony Colaprete, from the US space agency's Ames research centre.
"And it's in the form of water-ice grains. That's good news because water-ice is very much a friendly resource to work with. You don't have to warm it very much; you just have to bring it up to room temperature to pull it out of the dirt real easy.
"Just as a point of reference - in about a tonne of material, at about 5%, you're talking 11-12 gallons of water that you could extract."
"This could facilitate future human and robotic explorers in their quest for understanding of the lunar ice, as well as its potential use as resource; because rather than having to brave the cold and dark conditions inside permanent shadow, they could land much more conventionally in areas where the sunlight is shining - at least for part of the year - and then dig a small distance below the surface and access the ice."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11598813
Scientists studied the full results of an experiment that smashed a rocket and a probe into a lunar crater last year.
The impacts kicked up large amounts of rock and dust, revealing a suite of fascinating chemical compounds and far more water than anyone had imagined.
A Nasa-led team tells Science magazine that about 155kg of water vapour and water-ice were blown out of the crater.
The researchers' analysis suggests some areas of lunar regolith, or soil, must contain as much as 5% by weight of water-ice.
"That's a significant amount of water," said Anthony Colaprete, from the US space agency's Ames research centre.
"And it's in the form of water-ice grains. That's good news because water-ice is very much a friendly resource to work with. You don't have to warm it very much; you just have to bring it up to room temperature to pull it out of the dirt real easy.
"Just as a point of reference - in about a tonne of material, at about 5%, you're talking 11-12 gallons of water that you could extract."
"This could facilitate future human and robotic explorers in their quest for understanding of the lunar ice, as well as its potential use as resource; because rather than having to brave the cold and dark conditions inside permanent shadow, they could land much more conventionally in areas where the sunlight is shining - at least for part of the year - and then dig a small distance below the surface and access the ice."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11598813