A probe that monitors the movement of water on the moon

American scientists followed for the first time the LRO probe, the movement of water molecules from one area to another.

"It was difficult to accurately calculate the amount of water on the moon because of the reflection of the light," said geologist Michael Boston of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. "Our colleagues also observed a large amount of surface (migratory) moisture that can not be explained by any process.

It is thought that the conditions on the moon prevent the accumulation of large amounts of water, because the absence of atmosphere and the weakness of gravity prevent the survival of the molecules? In the liquid state, ice on the open surface evaporates gradually under the influence of the solar wind.

However, the Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan discovered a large amount of water in the southern half of the moon in 2012. In 2012, the LRO probe discovered snow in craters located in the northern half of the moon.

This discovery has led scientists to search for the source of this water (some astronomers assume that these are comets and asteroids.) Others think that water has not been seen for a long time on the Moon: it is the result of the constant bombardment of solar winds containing molecules of hydrogen and oxygen on the surface of the Moon.

Boston and his scientific team managed to solve this difference by following the movement of the water molecules in the upper layer of the lunar soil, which were separated from its surface during the warm period of the lunar day. Some of these particles migrate to dark places and the other part disappears into space.

Follow-up scientists have shown that microscopic ice crystals are not a source of water molecules, but an upper soil layer or old moisture in deeper layers.