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 calculate the exact amount of water on the moon because of the reflection of light," said geologist Michael Boston of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado. "Our colleagues also observed a large amount of moisture on the surface that can not be explained by any physical process.

Moon conditions are thought to prevent the accumulation of large amounts of water, since the absence of the atmosphere and the weakness of gravity prevent the survival of liquid molecules and ice on the open surface. evaporates gradually under the effect 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 ice in craters located in the northern half of the moon.

The discovery prompted scientists to look for the source of water. Some astronomers think that comets and asteroids are at the origin, while others think that water has not been seen for a long time on the moon, result of constant bombardment. solar winds containing molecules of hydrogen and oxygen on the Moon 's surface.

Boston and his scientific team resolved this difference of opinion by following the movement of the water molecules in the upper layer of the lunar soil, which turned out to be in the warm period of the lunar day, and some of these particles migrated to dark places, the other disappeared 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.

(Qena)