The Moon is a Waterworld!

[Zeonix]

!

But not really.

Could this be the final blow to the theory that the moon is bone dry?

Not only does the moon's surface hold a "significant amount" of water—as two NASA crashes confirmed in October—but, a new study says, the moon's interior may hold at least a hundred times more water than previously estimated.

"If we could take all the water which is locked up in the moon's interior, it would make a one-meter-deep [one-yard-deep] ocean covering its entire surface," said lead study author Francis McCubbin, a geologist with the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington D.C.

McCubbin's team reanalyzed old moon-rock samples gathered by Apollo missions and a lunar meteorite found in a desert in Africa. (Related: "Apollo 11 Hoax Photos: Moon-Landing Myths—Busted.")

The findings indicated that inside the moon "the amount of water is at least 64 parts per billion, which is two orders of magnitude more than previously thought," McCubbin said. "And maybe even more is there."

(Related: There's Water on the Moon, NASA Probes Confirm)

Moon Water Found Hidden in Crystals

Using electron microscopes, McCubbin and his team looked at thin moon rock slices and collected tiny crystal grains of the mineral apatite. Lunar apatite is thought to have formed billions of years ago, when the moon's interior was filled with hot magma.

The team peered into the apatite crystals using a technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry—training a beam of ions on the rocks and then studying the ions that the beam dislodges from the material.

In the process, the researchers stumbled onto something big: the telltale chemical signature of water, in the form of hydroxyl ions.

"Until this study water had never been reported within minerals from the moon," McCubbin said.

Apatite naturally soaks up water as water-bearing magma cools, locking it up in the form of hydroxyl ions—pairs of bonded hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

As such, apatite "really is a natural mineral to look for, because if there was any water in lunar rocks it would end up in that apatite," he said.

(Read more about moon exploration.)


Amount of Moon Water Stuns Scientists

The moon may not be soaking wet—it's still considered drier than the driest desert on Earth. (VIDEO: Crash Course on the Moon.)

But the quantity of water detected by the new study has stunned the scientific community, according to planetary geologist Linda Elkins-Tanton, who isn't connected to the study.

"It's definitely surprising in that they are finding a lot more water in these minerals than would have been predicted," said Elkins-Tanton, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

"This now shows that primordial water was present when the moon itself formed," she said.

Moon-Water Discovery a Total Game-Changer?

While much has been made of the possibility of using moon water for hydrogen fuel for spacecraft or to sustain moon colonies, even the splashy new estimates are probably too low to make extraction economically viable, Elkins-Tanton said.

The real impact of the new moon-water discovery is in what it might say about the formation and evolution of both the moon and Earth, she said.

The leading theory on the moon's origin says the satellite formed when a Mars-size object collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, sending a spray of material out into Earth orbit—material that eventually coalesced, forming the moon. (Read "Was Moon Born From Planet's Crash into Earth?")

All major, current moon-origin computer simulations suggest that the physics are such that the moon likely formed exclusively from the pulverized remains of the impactor—not from bits of Earth.

The big problem with this model, though, is that many isotopic elements found on the moon match elements found on Earth and no other body in the solar system measured so far—suggesting a kinship between Earth and the moon.

So if the moon is made from the impactor, then why would the impactor happen to have the same materials as Earth?

"An extremely unlikely coincidence," she said. "This is why the discovery of water in the interior of the moon is really a critical piece of the puzzle to try and figure out how the Earth and the moon are really linked."

By carefully measuring the water in these lunar minerals and matching up their isotopic ratios with those found on Earth, Elkins-Tanton believes it may lead us closer to solving the mystery of where both the Earth and the moon got their water.

"This," she said, "could be a total game-changer."

Source:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/100614-moon-water-hundred-lunar-proceedings-science/

TLDR: So there's about 100 times more water on the moon than previously thought. That's enough for a 1m deep ocean covering its entire surface.

 

[Deathshot]

Think they will get some crazy idea to send something up there to try and extract the Water?

 

[Spunky]

Think they will get some crazy idea to send something up there to try and extract the Water?

Why? We have enough on Earth.

 

[Deathshot]

Why? We have enough on Earth.

They may want to study it.

 

[sub]

We really don't have enough water on earth, we need more fresh water. I'm not saying that it's realistic or practical to want to extract it from the moon.

 

[Spunky]

Right, but then we have reserves like the Ogallala Aquifer where we don't really know how much water is down there. The Ogallala is estimated to have quadrillions of gallons of water, but it's accumulated over the course of billions of years and we're taking more out than is being put back by natural processes like rain. These underground "water veins" are all over the world, and it's pretty much the same with all of them. Ground penetrating radar and seismologists can only tell us so much. Although seismology has come a long way. There are actually some really neat tricks for detecting different materials underground. However, even our best estimates are still just estimates.

For the purposes of having more fresh water for drinking, an extraction from the moon would be highly impractical. It costs $10,000/kilo just to launch something into orbit. It's about 100 times cheaper to launch something from the moon, but still, there would be absolutely no reason to do that. Desalination is far cheaper and easier to do.

 

[Avenger]

I'm not saying that it's realistic or practical to want to extract it from the moon.

For the purposes of having more fresh water for drinking, an extraction from the moon would be highly impractical. It costs $10,000/kilo just to launch something into orbit. It's about 100 times cheaper to launch something from the moon, but still, there would be absolutely no reason to do that. Desalination is far cheaper and easier to do.

Silly statement is silly. Why would you comment on this when he didn't say it was realistic or practical to extract it from the moon?

We really don't have enough water on earth, we need more fresh water.

Correction: We need more drinkable fresh water. A whole lot of sources are contaminated.

 

[Spunky]

Silly statement is silly. Why would you comment on this when he didn't say it was realistic or practical to extract it from the moon?

Why would you comment on my agreement with Sub? That's a useless comment. So is this.

 

[Prozac]

For the purposes of having more fresh water for drinking, an extraction from the moon would be highly impractical. It costs $10,000/kilo just to launch something into orbit. It's about 100 times cheaper to launch something from the moon, but still, there would be absolutely no reason to do that. Desalination is far cheaper and easier to do.

This holds true for now, but currently several projects are on the way which are trying to produce a cheap way to get into space. In about 50 years we might be able to tap the moon water!

 

[Synth]

Well, Obama said we might have the new engine systems in less than 10-15 years... but, that's likely just him trying to get the media off his back.

I'm afraid any tampering with the moon might alter or destroy it.

 

[Avenger]

It's a pretty huge object. It would be difficult to destroy.

 

[Prozac]

Just as Tampering with earth has destroyed it. (I won't deny we are on our way though) Don't overestimate our capabilities to alter or destroy things so easily ^_^

They are also working on a space elevator, which can be quite interesting too imo. Especially as their is no fuel required.

 

[Synth]

Is the elevator... magnetic?

That would be awesome.

 

[Avenger]

Especially as their is no fuel required.

There's always fuel required.

 

[Prozac]

You get what I mean :/

 

[Deathshot]

There's always fuel required.

Not everything requires fuel. There are many things that do not require it to run fine.

 

[Prozac]

Not everything requires fuel. There are many things that do not require it to run fine.

No he's right, everything requires fuel. Everything. Energy used comes from fuel.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/light-propulsion.htm <- that was what I was talking about btw

 

[Deathshot]

No he's right, everything requires fuel. Everything. Energy used comes from fuel.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/light-propulsion.htm <- that was what I was talking about btw

Well, this maybe something you may not have been thinking about but running water doesn't use fuel truly. You could always go back to water cranks pulling stuff up.


But About that link. This maybe a bit off topic but NASA just launched the last Space Shuttle a few weeks ago. Is this what they will be using from now on? And.... Does this mean.... Hoverboards?

 

[Prozac]

Well, this maybe something you may not have been thinking about but running water doesn't use fuel truly. You could always go back to water cranks pulling stuff up.

Water cranks require fuel to run too.
If a man pumps up water, he requires fuel too, his fuel just happens to be what he eats.

 

[Sicron]

In essence, everything does need a fuel yes. There is no action in this world where you don't need to inject energy in order to obtain something. Otherwise, we would have had free electricity ages ago. That said, we do need more drinkable water with this growing population. However, it is probably a lot more affordable to decontaminate the water on earth than to get new water from the moon. Water on the moon on the other hand, is really handy to have if we want to colonize the moon in the future. It saves us from having to send massive and expensive rockets with water to the moon.