Saturday, August 31, 2019

Moon Ice

From Universe Today:
In addition to being the only solvent that is capable of supporting life, water is essential to life as we know it here on Earth. Because of this, finding deposits of water – whether in liquid form or as ice – on other planets is always exciting. Even where is not seen as a potential indication of life, the presence of water offers opportunities for exploration, scientific study, and even the creation of human outposts. 
This has certainly been the case as far as the Moon and Mercury are concerned, where water ice was discovered in the permanently-shadowed cratered regions around the poles. But according to a new analysis of the data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the MESSENGER spacecraft, the Moon and Mercury may have significantly more water ice than previously thought. 
The study that describes the new findings recently appeared in the journal Nature Geoscience. The team was led by Lior Rubanenko and David A. Paige – a graduate student and professor of planetary science from the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – with assistance provided by Jaahnavee Venkatrama, a Statistician and UCLA graduate. (Read more.)
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