Moon has more water than earlier estimated--NASA

About 40 years back when Apollo astronauts first walked on the surface of the moon, they brought back a host of rocks and particles from the moon’s surface.

A closer examination of these lunar particles has revealed that they hold generous amounts of water, far more than what the scientists had earlier believed.

The pebbles and particles are remnants of volcanoes that had erupted on the moon’s surface years ago. NASA scientists believe that the interior of the moon holds more water than its surface.

The discovery of water will help scientists fine-tune their understanding of the formation of the moon.

In the year 1972, Apollo astronauts had brought tiny glass fragments from the lunar surface. These were found to contain tiny microscopic particles called inclusions, which had formed in the moon’s interior much before any volcanic eruptions took place.

More water than what was believed
As recently as 2 years back, a mission from the Moffett Field sent a spacecraft that bombed the crust of the moon near the south pole, throwing up tiny particles of water ice from the rocky interiors.

NASA scientists have concluded that there is far more water inside the moon than what had been concluded after the Moffett Field mission.

On Thursday, three research teams affiliated to NASA's Lunar Science Institute at the Ames Research Center in Mountain View reported the presence of generous amounts of water that exceeded their expectations. The amount of water measured was found to be nearly as high as it is in the earth’s upper mantle.

The findings of the study have been published in the journal 'Science Express.'

Discovery could give clues about moon’s formation
Yvonne Pendleton, director of the Lunar Science Institute at Ames, expressed immense excitement over what he called an “extremely important” discovery.

Pendleton added that the discovery should give further insight into how the moon formed and how the water came to be on the lunar surface in the first place.

The popular consensus among scientists is that the moon was formed when a giant object smashed into the earth, throwing up enormous amounts of rocks that later fused together to form the moon.

The heat of such an impact would likely have destroyed any water present. The discovery of water will help scientists fine-tune their understanding of the formation of the moon.

Experts at NASA are now trying to figure out how the moon happened to have such large amounts of water.