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Moon's water could sustain astronauts - NASA

Other News Materials 24 October 2010 07:07 (UTC +04:00)
NASA scientists say the amount of water on the Moon is much more than previously thought and the water-rich soil could sustain astronauts on the planet, Press TV reported.
Moon's water could sustain astronauts - NASA

NASA scientists say the amount of water on the Moon is much more than previously thought and the water-rich soil could sustain astronauts on the planet, Press TV reported.

Findings of a new experiment suggest that the lunar regolith or soil contains 5.6% by weight of water-ice at the site of the experiment.

Scientists smashed a rocket and a probe into a lunar crater last year, the impact of which uncovered fascinating chemical compounds and a large water resource.

A Nasa-led team told Science magazine that about 155 kg of water vapor and water-ice were blown out of the crater.

"That's a significant amount of water," said Anthony Colaprete of NASA's Ames research center.

"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," he added.

"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."

"If you took just the 10km region around the impact site and say it had 5% water -- that would be equivalent to about a billion gallons of water," Colaprete explained.

Studies showed that 20% of the dust plume which rose after the impact was made up of volatile compounds, including methane, ammonia, hydrogen gas, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.

Relatively large amounts of some metals were also detected, such as sodium and mercury, and a very tiny bit of silver.

Findings also suggest that the water-ice is not only found in the shadows where the extremely low temperature keeps them for billions of years, but also in areas which receive some sunlight through the year, provided it is buried in the soil.

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