Ice at the Poles on the Moon

The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon’s south pole (left) and north pole (right), detected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the gray scale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). The ice is concentrated at the darkest and coldest locations, in the shadows of craters. This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon’s surface. Credits: NASA

It’s Cold Out There (but Icy!)

People have long suspected that there’s ice at the poles of the Moon. Data taken when a probe crashed into the lunar south pole some years ago showed tantalizing evidence that it was there. Other studies have also hinted at the presence of ice at the poles. Now, scientists have observed direct evidence of icy deposits in shadowed regions in craters. It could be very ancient ice, perhaps left behind after comet impacts in the distant past.

So how do scientists who study the Moon know this?

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers working on a spacecraft instrument team found very specific signatures of ice in data from their M3 instrument that is mounted on India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft. M3 stands for “Moon Mineralogy Mapper”. It detected reflections from ice and the data showed that molecules in the material that was doing the reflecting are typical of water ice.

Ice can survive on the Moon at these polar regions because it is protected from direct sunlight by surface rocks in the crater rims where the ices lie. The temperatures are very cold there, never getting much higher than -250 F (-156.7 C).

Implications of Ice on the Moon

As nations and space agencies look toward future bases and habitations on the Moon, the big question is always, “How do we get enough water there to support the crews and inhabitants?” The lunar ices may provide one avenue for water sources, and other scientists are looking at water stored away inside porous rocks. Wherever it comes from, water is the major requirement for successful lunar exploration. So, studies like this one help uncover sources for the future explorers and tell us more about the Moon’s history.

You can read more about this finding at NASA’s JPL site.

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