A new study suggests that billions of years ago, volcanic eruptions on the moon generated a layer of ice beneath the lunar surface.
The researchers created a model of the moon's surface as it would have appeared and behaved 2 billion to 4 billion years ago, complete with periodic volcanic eruptions on a still-active world. They assumed that a volcano erupted every 22,000 years on average.
"We envision it as a frost on the moon that built up over time," lead study author Andrew Wilcoski, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in a statement.
The lava emitted by these active volcanoes formed maria, the dark expanses that cover the moon's lowlands. However, those volcanoes also emitted water vapor. The water vapor would have frozen solid when it contacted the cold moon, generating a layer of ice a few meters beneath the lunar surface, according to the new study.
The moon had no atmosphere billions of years ago. However, those volcanic eruptions would have produced significant volumes of other gases, including water vapor. Those gases would have been enough to swirl about the moon, covering it in small temporary atmospheres.
Those atmospheres, on the other hand, would have been short-lived, dissipating into space after only a thousand years or so. However, even that brief period of time would have been enough for much of the water vapor to freeze into ice and settle back down, according to the researchers, especially near the poles.
Future human lunar missions may benefit from the discovery. Finding liquid water on the moon is becoming more critical as astronauts and engineers consider how to live on the moon indefinitely without relying on Earth for essential resources like water.
In the long haul, the facility would require electricity, waste disposal, and communications infrastructure, as well as radiation shielding and a landing pad. The station may also be used to test new methods for coping with annoying lunar dust and long, chilly lunar nights, as well as for converting local materials into resources such as water and innovating power and construction technologies.
Although prior study has verified the presence of water ice on the moon, scientists are currently striving to determine its position, geographic dispersion, the amount of lunar dust mixed in, and other characteristics that will influence whether the ice can be used as a resource.
If the researchers' findings, which were published in The Planetary Science Journal, are validated, it could lead to a valuable treasure hidden under the poles.
