Lunar Water: A Brief Review |
| |
| Authors: | Mahesh Anand |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research (CEPSAR), The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK;(2) Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK |
| |
| Abstract: | One of the most exciting recent developments in the field of lunar science has been the unambiguous detection of water (either
as OH or H2O) or water ice on the Moon through instruments flown on a number of orbiting spacecraft missions. At the same time, continued
laboratory-based investigations of returned lunar samples by Apollo missions using high-precision, low-detection, analytical
instruments have for the first time, provided the absolute abundance of water (present mostly as structurally bound OH− in mineral phases) in lunar samples. These new results suggest that the Moon is not an anhydrous body, questioning conventional
wisdom, and indicating the possibility of a wet lunar interior and the presence of distinct reservoirs of water on the lunar
surface. However, not all recent results point to a wet Moon and it appears that the distribution of water on the Moon may
be highly heterogeneous. Additionally, a number of sources are likely to have contributed to the water inventory of the Moon
ranging from primordial water to meteorite-derived water ice through to the water formed during the reaction of solar-wind
hydrogen with the lunar soil. Water on the Moon has implications for future astrobiological investigations as well as for
generating resources in situ during future exploration of the Moon and other airless bodies in the Solar System. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
