The Moon contains more water than previously thought: there are abundant micro-ice deposits at the south pole

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Any manned space mission has to face a great challenge: ensuring that the astronauts have enough food and drink to survive, a very complicated task considering that in order to launch a launch, the weight of the ship must be reduced to the maximum.

So when thinking about a long trip to Mars or staying long periods on the Moon, you also have to devise ways to send enough supplies.

Two studies published this Monday suggest that future trips to the Moon will have the great advantage of being able to obtain water

, because in addition to confirming its presence on our satellite, they reveal that its soil conserves greater amounts than previously believed.

NASA has called a press conference at 5:00 p.m. to comment on these findings that will surely facilitate the preparation of the Artemis program (Artemis, in Spanish) with which the US intends to return to the Moon in 2024 and establish a lunar station in the following years. .

It has long been known that the south pole of our satellite houses water that in theory could be extracted by the astronauts who are going to work there in a few years - the crew of the Apollo missions spent very little time and brought everything they needed in their ships.

Today there is little doubt that there is water and also, it turns out that there is much more than previously thought, according to these studies published in the journal

.

The first investigation unequivocally confirms the presence of water -HO2- on our satellite.

They have done it with data from the SOFIA observatory (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy).

It is a NASA Boeing 747SP aircraft modified to carry a telescope.

The aircraft flies at an altitude of 13 kilometers and makes infrared observations between wavelengths that allow investigations of space bodies such as the Moon.

Well, this telescope has detected a spectral signature that, according to the authors, indisputably indicates that it is water (HO2) since it is not shared by other compounds.

Previous research also pointed out that it was water, but the spectral signature that had been observed was also compatible with it being hydroxyl, so they could not be sure.

Now, they argue, there is no doubt that this is water that scientists say

'Traps' that capture water

The SOFIA observatory is a Boeing aircraft modified to carry a telescope and NASA

On the other hand, a second study maintains that the small deposits of trapped water that had been seen at the south pole are much more numerous than previously believed.

An in-depth analysis of the lunar surface has revealed that they are spread over a vast area and

, so they would be at hand to settle there.

They would be, as the authors point out, a kind of traps spread over the surface in which the water would be trapped.

As Paul Haynes, a researcher at the University of Colorado and lead author of the study, explains to this newspaper, these deposits are near the lunar poles,

"Our results show that

Deposits spread over 40,000 km2

Thus, these deposits would be spread over an area of ​​40,000 square kilometers, which according to Haynes, "is a lot."

"If all that surface were covered only by a superficial layer of ice, it would suppose tens of billions of kilos of water, equivalent to a medium-sized lake. The micro reservoirs, less than a meter in diameter, could contain water equivalent to a small lake ", compares.

Paul Haynes believes that

: "NASA and other space agencies are developing technologies to extract this water from the lunar surface and harness it. We do not yet know how deep the ice is. Our findings suggest that

they are spread over a large area, so mining technologies may need to be designed to operate over a large area rather than dig deep. "

The detection of molecular H2O on the lunar surface provides a potential source of water to supply the cold traps at the poles, says Haynes: "In this scenario, the water would be released by meteorite impacts and then migrate to the poles where it would be trapped. in ice deposits. Our results indicate that water may be more accessible as a resource for future missions and permanent settlements. "

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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