Not All Of The Moon's
water comes from its own surface; some of it is siloed from the Earth's atmosphere
According To New Research
by University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute scientists published last month.
This is good news for
NASA's Artemis project, the planned long-term human presence on the moon, which will rely heavily on the moon's water supplies.
The researcher and his team have
estimated that the moon’s polar regions could hold up to 3,500 cubic kilometers — 840 cubic miles — or more of surface permafrost or subsurface liquid water.
Kletetschka and his colleagues suggest
that hydrogen and oxygen ions are deposited on the moon when it travels through the tail of the Earth’s magnetosphere.
Solar wind is also a source
of water on the moon as it carries oxygen and hydrogen ions, which may have combined and been deposited as water molecules.
Regardless of where it comes
from, the fact that there is water on the moon is good news for space explorers.