BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Water on the Moon?

Everybody had known for a long time that the Moon was bone dry. In the nineties probes found some evidence of water. After a big announcement of water on the Moon, it went back again to being described as dry. What's the story in the 21st century?

Water on the Moon

Shared your link on FB. Fascinating.

Thank you, Lori. I'm glad you liked it. There is quite a lot more to this unfolding story, so I think I'll have a follow-up one day.

The Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) completed an extensive period of measurements. The data were released last year showing concentrations of water in the lunar soil.

LRO map of water in the lunar soil January 29, 2012

Here is a 2009 cartoonist's response to NASA's announcement of water on the Moon detected by three different instruments.

My article outlines how our ideas about water on the Moon changed from “dry as a bone” to really quite a lot of surface water. But now NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper has found evidence of water in grains that formed deep below the surface, suggesting water in the interior. A few years ago, water was found in moon rocks that showed the same thing.