Water Ice Could Be Lurking Beneath Moon’s Polar Craters, Study Suggests

It is estimated that the moon’s crust was covered in molten rock millions of years ago, when many volcanic activity broke out on the planet’s surface. In the course of time, the lava formed the dark patches on the moon’s surface, known as maria, that we see today.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder think that volcanic activity may be responsible for the moon’s ice sheets, which blanket the moon’s sides and may reach a thickness of several hundred feet in certain areas.

The scientists used computational models or simulations to attempt to reproduce circumstances on the lunar surface long before sophisticated life developed on Earth. Simulated results and models were used. Water vapor emitted by old moon volcanoes landed on the surface and formed ice deposits may still be present in lunar basins, according to the researchers. It’s possible that a trace of ice on the moon’s surface, along the dividing line between day & night, was visible to people back then.

Water for consumption as well as for making rocket fuel will be needed by future moon travelers, therefore this might be a valuable resource. Five to ten meters beneath the ground, there may be large ice sheets.

Even from Earth, you might have seen ice and massive polar caps on the moon due to the abundance of lunar ice. The researchers estimated that around 18 quadrillion pounds of volcano water may have frozen over that time. It would fill Lake Michigan to capacity. Study suggests that most of the water on the Moon may still be around in the current day.

To be sure, it won’t be simple to track down these ice chunks floating about in outer space. There is a good chance that the ice is concentrated around the moon’s poles and trapped beneath several layers of lunar bedrock.

The findings were published in The Planetary Science Journal.