Water on the Moon
Ideas of a bone-dry lunar surface have been
overturned by detection of water withinrock
minerals, and as surface iceFra Mauro Highlands
The samples collected from
the Apollo 14 landing site
were in 2008 found to
include minerals containing
water in the form of hydroxyl,
a chemical that includes
hydrogen and oxygen.Southern poles
In 2009 a rocket from NASA's Lunar
Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite
spacecraft deliberately crashed into the
shadowed crater Cabeus. Within the
material thrown up, 150 kilograms of
water was detected.Bullialdus crater
In 2013 a team at John
Hopkins University
analysing spectroscopic
data from the Moon
Mineralogy Mapper
detected magmatic water
in the central peak of this
impact crater.The Moon is alive