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What did Chandrayaan-1 discover about water molecules on the Moon?
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Moon
(Left) Near side of Earth's Moon, photographed by the Galileo spacecraft on its way to Jupiter. (Right) Far side of the Moon with some of the near side visible (upper right), photographed by the Apollo 16 spacecraft.
In 2009, the Chandrayaan-1 mission utilized its spectrometer to identify water molecules on the Moon. These molecules are present in small quantities mixed within the lunar soil, with approximately 1 kg (2 pounds) of water found per ton of surface material.12
Key findings regarding these water molecules include:
- Distribution: While water was detected across much of the lunar surface, the strongest signals originated from the lunar poles.12
- Composition: The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (MĀ³), a NASA-contributed instrument, identified both water and hydroxyl radicals on the surface.3
- Subsurface Evidence: MĀ³ also discovered evidence of water originating from beneath the surface in a crater located near the lunar equator.3
- Formation: Observations from the EPOXI spacecraft suggest that these water molecules may be formed through the interaction of hydrogen ions from the solar wind with oxygen atoms present in the lunar soil.12