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Water Found in Moon Rocks

by Rob Walker | July 9, 2008 at 04:04 pm | 132 views | 3 comments

It was a mission that began over 30 years ago, and still continues in a very real way today - Apollo 15's moon landing mission.

In 1971, two astronauts spent three days on the surface of the moon, collecting data and most importantly - lunar surface material.

37 years later, scientists have discovered a miniscule amount of water in the moon's surface - just 46 parts per million worth of water, in fact.

Not much, but apparently *how* the water is distributed inside the volcanic glass balls they were found in shows that the water was flowing, not just tiny random particles.

A new analysis of Apollo 15 moon rocks has for the first time uncovered water locked up inside.
It's just a miniscule amount of the wet stuff -- not enough to sustain even a lunar cactus or to power any hydrogen jetpacks -- but the discovery does bolster hopes that there has always been water in moon rocks and perhaps some locked away as ice in the dark crannies of polar craters.

The discovery also overturns 40 years of studies which had failed to find the water and which led to the conclusion, drawn by most planetary scientists, that moon rocks must be all dry.

Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin spent three days on the Moon and a total of 18½ hours outside the spacecraft on lunar extra-vehicular activity. The mission was the first not to land in a Lunar mare, instead landing near Hadley rille in an area of the Mare Imbrium called Palus Putredinus (Marsh of Decay). The crew explored the area using the first Lunar Rover allowing them to travel much further from the Lunar Module lander than had previously been possible. They collected a total of 77 kg (170 Earth pounds) of lunar surface material.