Water on the moon?
When a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind careens onto the Moon’s surface at 450 kilometres per second, they enrich the Moon’s surface in ingredients that could make water, NASA scientists have found.
Using a computer program, scientists simulated the chemistry that unfolds when the solar wind pelts the Moon’s surface.
As the Sun streams protons to the Moon, they found, those particles interact with electrons in the lunar surface, making hydrogen (H) atoms.
These atoms then migrate through the surface and latch onto the abundant oxygen (O) atoms bound in the silica (SiO2) and other oxygen-bearing molecules that make up the lunar soil, or regolith. Together, hydrogen and oxygen make the molecule hydroxyl (OH), a component of water, or H2O.
“We think of water as this special, magical compound,” said William Farrell, a plasma physicist at NASA who helped develop the simulation. “But here’s what’s amazing: every rock has the potential to make water, especially after being irradiated by the solar wind.”
Do you think NASA will eventually be able to set up a permanent human presence on the moon?
I fail to understand why people are so fascinated by living on the Moon or Mars. Both planets are barren and Mars in particular is buffeted for months on end by dust storms. Instead of spending billions of dollars on the idea of living in these inhospitable places, the money would be best spent on fixing our own planet Earth.