Promising Results for Long-Term Surface Operations

The US Naval Research Laboratory has announced the discovery of solar-wind hydrogen in lunar samples, which points to water on the surface of the moon.

If there is recoverable water on Luna's rocks then it bodes well for operations in coming decades, providing a usable, in-place store of vital water for living and working - and every pound of water found moonside is one less needed to be launched out of orbit. The hydrogen found was similar to helium found in lunar soils from the Apollo program, deposited by "solar winds" as elements were carried throughout the cosmos. The discovery comes courtesy of a Navy operation, using samples gleaned from the Apollo mission. It's a bit novel for space news, since most discoveries along these lines come courtesy of a spatula-wielding RC car 40,000 miles away. 

“Hydrogen has the potential to be a resource that can be used directly on the lunar surface when there are more regular or permanent installations there,” said Dr. Katherine D. Burgess, geologist in NRL’s Materials Science and Technology Division. “Locating resources and understanding how to collect them prior to getting to the Moon is going to be incredibly valuable for space exploration.”

“This is the first-time scientists have demonstrated detection of hydrogen-bearing species within vesicles in lunar samples,” said Dr. Burgess. “Previously, the same team at NRL used state-of-the-art techniques such as scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy to detect helium in lunar samples, and other researchers have found water in other planetary samples, but this is the first publication to show hydrogen in-situ in lunar samples.”

FMI: www.navy.mil