According to a new study, more information than ever has been revealed about the presence of water on the moon. The discovery is a ray of hope for future human missions as the availability of water on the moon could be helpful for long-term human presence and exploration of Mars.
The research is based on data obtained by India’s lunar mission Chandrayaan-1, which orbited the moon from 2008 to 2009. The study found that water molecules are present in various locations on the moon, even where water was previously thought to be absent.
High-resolution spectroscopy tools that measure the reflection of light from the lunar surface were used to detect the presence of water on the moon. In this way specific colors of water and hydroxyl compounds can be identified.