WASHINGTON: Moon has hundred times
more water than was previously thought, and it could be widespread deep under
its surface, planetary scientists have claimed.
A US-led team has
based its findings on an analysis of the mineral apatite in lunar rocks picked
up by Apollo space missions and in lunar meteorite found in Africa and say that
there is at least 100 times more water in the Moon’s minerals that was
previously believed.
“Water may be ubiquitous within the lunar
interior,” the planetary scientists wrote in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. “For over 40 years we thought the Moon was
dry. We found that the minimum water content ranged from 64 parts per billion to
5 parts per million — at least two orders of magnitude greater than
previous results,” Francis McCubbin of Carnegie Institution of Washington,
who led the team, said. “We can now finally begin to consider the
implications and the origin of water in the interior of the
Moon.”
According to him, the water is not immediately
accessible — it is incorporated in the rocky interior of the Moon.
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