The presence of Water on the moon’s surface is something which has been studied in the past by scientists. Before humans landed on the Lunar Surface, most astronomers believed that the moon could not possibly have any traces of water on its surface. However, the Apollo mission brought back some ice beads from the lunar surface, which was later proved to have water in them.

Back in 2009, NASA announced that it had found water on the surface of the moon. However, scientists speculated that these water reserves were actually due to the interaction between solar winds and hydrogen at high altitudes and thus was not formed on the moon.

Now, extensive research and study of the pictures taken by specialized imaging equipment of the moon, shows that there may be large deposits of water under the volcanic debris on the moon’s surface.

Water on the moon confirmed

After years of debate regarding the presence of water on the moon, researchers at Brown University have finally found extensive proof of the same by looking at geographical imaging pictures of the lunar surface, which were taken by India’s Chandrayan-1 lunar orbiter in 2008. The water deposits are said to be deep under the surface of the moon and was discovered by scientists by studying the volcanic rock formations as a result of a major eruption millions of years ago.

Astronomers were also left surprised by the fact that water was present so deep underground, almost at the level of magma and the moon’s core.

This suggested that the water was present even in the earliest phase of the moon’s formation around 4.5 billion years ago. This may be why the water got trapped inside the surface as the moon slowly cooled and solidified to its current state. However, researchers are unable to say from where the large quantities of water came into the moon.

Uses of water on moon

Presence of huge amounts of water under the lunar surface has interested scientists because in the future this water may be extracted for use by humans. Many researchers feel that the moon would serve as a trial location for humans to try and setup a colony before trying to do the same on the Martian surface.

So, even though humans would not live on the moon for a very long time, still the presence of water could mean that people will not have to carry the water from the Earth.

However, the question now arises whether extracting the water from such depths would be worth the cost of doing so. Specialized equipments would be needed to even reach the source of water. However, it cannot be denied that this discovery does open up the options for future settlers on the moon.
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