27.3 day old moon
5.4 percent lit
The scientists are not finding H2O.
"...We find that OH abundance increases as a function of latitude..." (click here)
They are finding hydroxyl molecules (OH) as a molecule to manipulate to create water on the moon.
14 September 2017
By Katyanna Quach
Scientists (click here) have created the first map that traces the water content on the surface of the Moon, in the hopes that it may come in handy for astronauts searching for drinking water or fuel.
A paper published in Science Advances on Thursday shows how scientists used data taken from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) – an imaging spectrometer onboard the Chandrayaan‑1 probe – to sniff out water molecules.
In 2009, M3 discovered hydroxyl molecules containing one oxygen and one hydrogen atom and water in the soil. By plotting the abundance of hydroxyl concentrations across the Moon’s latitude, researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, can provide a map of the water levels on the satellite.
The Moon is incredibly arid compared to Earth. Nearer the poles, the maximum average of water is only around 500 to 750 parts per million – less than the amount found in Earth’s driest deserts.
Shuai Li, lead author of the paper who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hawaii (but was a PhD student at Brown University at the time of the study), said: “The signature of water is present nearly everywhere on the lunar surface, not limited to the polar regions as previously reported. The amount of water increases toward the poles and does not show significant difference among distinct compositional terrains.”...
Farewell to Cassini and congratulations to it's team. Well done.
September 15, 2017
A thrilling epoch (click here) in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.
Farewell to Cassini and congratulations to it's team. Well done.
September 15, 2017
A thrilling epoch (click here) in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.
"This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it’s also a new beginning,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Cassini’s discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential life beyond Earth."...
