Astronauts could detect water even near the moon's equator, notes The Planetary Science Journal.
A team of scientists from the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson (Arizona) and other U.S. research centers has found that traces of water are present at all latitudes on the Moon, including sunlit regions. This is evidenced by the results of a study published in The Planetary Science Journal.
After analyzing mineralogical maps of Earth's natural satellite obtained by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument on India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, the team of scientists concluded that "water-rich and hydroxyl-rich rocks" can be found all over the Moon's surface. "Future astronauts may be able to detect water even near the equator <...>," says Roger Clark, a senior research fellow at the Planetary Science Institute who was part of the study's author team.
Previously, Chinese scientists have suggested that resources from which water could be obtained to supply theoretically possible objects on the Moon exist in sufficient quantities only at the lunar poles in places that are difficult for the Sun's rays to reach. | BGNES
