Lunar waters have been a topic of interest to scientists for decades, and this interest has increased as humans prepare to visit the Moon by 2025. It is imperative to have a stable and durable base on the Moon, and water has an important role to play. , The discussion about water on the Moon is still churning out speculation and claims, and one such claim is the new buzzword in the science fraternity. Scientists are claiming that there may be molecules of water on the Moon, and those molecules may be contributed by our blue planet. The new research, published in Nature, was led by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Scientists from the university’s Geophysical Institute suggest that hydrogen and oxygen ions released from Earth’s atmosphere may be one of the sources of lunar water and lunar ice in the Moon’s forever shadowed regions.
The surface of Earth’s Moon is believed to have been heavily bombarded by asteroids billions of years ago. For many years these asteroids were thought to be the cause of water, however, there is much more on the Moon. Now, a new study claims that the Earth may have played a role in the accumulation of water on the Moon’s surface.
According to research, when the Moon passes through the tail of the planet’s magnetosphere, the Moon draws hydrogen and oxygen ions from Earth. The magnetosphere is a teardrop-shaped bubble created by Earth’s magnetic field that protects the planet from charged solar particles. When the Moon passes through this region, it disrupts Earth’s magnetic field lines and reconnects some of the broken field lines.
When this happens, the hydrogen and oxygen ions that had escaped from Earth are pulled back toward Earth due to the magnetic pull. In the midst of this exchange the Moon oscillates and since it does not have its own magnetosphere to repel them, ions accumulate on the Moon’s surface.
“It looks as if the Moon is in a shower – a shower of water ions coming back to Earth, falling back onto the Moon’s surface,” study lead author Gunther Kletschka said in a statement. “As NASA’s Artemis team plans to build a base camp at the Moon’s south pole, water ions that originated on Earth many ages ago could be used in astronaut life support systems,” he said.
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