Posted on Saturday, June 19 2010 @ 9:40 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
US researchers estimate the Moon may have way more water than believed. A new study suggests there's enough water locked up in the interior of the Moon to cover its entire surface with a one-meter deep ocean.
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.
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."
More info
at National Geographic.
