====== Lunar water ======

A large number of experimental studies have confirmed that water (as ice) is present in multiple locations on the Moon. A 2010 study from NASA estimated that there are at least 600 million metric tonnes of ice around the Moon's North pole alone. ([[https://science.nasa.gov/missions/mini-rf/nasa-radar-finds-ice-deposits-at-moons-north-pole/|ref.]])

It's discovery is of particular significance for future exploratory Moon missions, both as a source of usable raw water, and as a source for hydrogen, as fuel, via electrolysis.

Its origin(s), however, remain unclear, though there a number of theories,

>__Though the presence and persistence of water on the lunar surface have been documented, the origin, which is multifaceted and complicated, remains unexplained. __Lunar water likely has many sources, including primordial water (Boyce et al. 2010; McCubbin et al. 2010; Hui et al. 2013; Robinson et al. 2016), volatile rich cometary and meteoritic delivery (Greenwood et al. 2011), synthesized and released during an impact event (Daly & Schultz 2018; Stopar et al. 2018; Zhu et al. 2019; Huang et al. 2021), and solar wind proton implantation (Zeller et al. 1966; Schaible & Baragiola 2014; McLain et al. 2021; Xu et al. 2022). The relative contribution of each of these sources is not known."\\ \\ Source : [[https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad5542/meta|The Planetary Science Journal, Volume 5, Number 8]]{{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16}}

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Also see : [[content:earth_sciences:water|Earth's water]]