The Distribution of Molecular Water in the Lunar South Polar Region Based upon 6 μm Spectroscopic Imaging

Reach, W. T.; Lucey, P. G.; Honniball, C. I.; Arredondo, Anicia

doi:10.3847/psj/acbdf2

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…This water is not volatile on short timescales. Honniball et al (2021) and Reach et al (2023), measuring the strength of the 6.1 μm band, found H 2 O abundances that locally reached hundreds of ppm. At a typical specific surface area of 500 m 2 kg −1 (Carrier 1991), 1% of a monolayer of water corresponds to a bulk concentration of only 1.5 ppm by weight.…”

Section: Discussion: Physical Chemistry Versus Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adsorption Kinetics of Water and Argon on Lunar Grains

Schörghofer

2023

Planet. Sci. J.

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Adsorption residence times of water on lunar grains play an essential role for the migration and sequestration of water on the Moon, but estimates vary by over 10 orders of magnitude for the same temperature. Here, the physical chemistry literature for the interaction of water vapor and argon with silicates is reviewed, and available measurements of adsorption on lunar samples are used to quantify adsorption times. The wide range of adsorption energies, measured or postulated, is explained by activated surface sites with high desorption energies. Passivation, the opposite of activation, occurs quickly in laboratory settings and is expected on longer timescales at shallow depths on the Moon. A quantitative parameterization of desorption rates, intended for a wide range of adsorbate concentrations and temperatures, is constructed and used in model calculations. Grain surface diffusion plays a key role for desorption rates and also reduces photodestruction rates. For ice buried beneath lunar soil, multilayer adsorption is expected well before the depth of the ice is reached.

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Section: Discussion: Physical Chemistry Versus Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adsorption Kinetics of Water and Argon on Lunar Grains

Schörghofer

2023

Planet. Sci. J.

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“…The size of the lunar core is only about 20% the size of the Moon itself, in contrast to about 50% as is the case for most other terrestrial bodies. In February 2022, astronomers used NASA's SOFIA telescope to scan an immense region near the south pole of the Moon and revealed an abundance of water trapped on the shady sides of mountains and in the shadowed parts of craters [32].…”

Section: How Was the Moon Created?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mysteries of Solar System Explained by WUM

Netchitailo¹

2023

JHEPGC

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E. Stone in the article "18 Mysteries and Unanswered Questions About Our Solar System. Little Astronomy" wrote: One of the great things about astronomy is that there is still so much out there for us to discover. There are so many unanswered questions and mysteries about the universe. There is always a puzzle to solve and that is part of beauty. Even in our own neighborhood, the Solar System, there are many questions we still have not been able to answer [1]. In the present paper, we explain the majority of these Mysteries and some other unexplained phenomena in the Solar System (SS) in frames of the developed Hypersphere World-Universe Model (WUM) [2].

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“…The existence of molecular H 2 O on the lunar surface was not confirmed until NASA/DLR Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) performed lunar observations at 6 μm. Quantitative analyses suggest that a high content of molecular H 2 O occurs at high lunar latitudes and formed in situ from preexisting OH during micrometeorite impacts (12,13). The Apollo and Chang' e-5 (CE5) lunar sample studies provide direct measurement evidence for solar wind-derived water from lunar minerals and impact glasses (14)(15)(16)(17)(18).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple sources of water preserved in impact glasses from Chang’e-5 lunar soil

Zhou,

Mo,

Tang

et al. 2024

Sci. Adv.

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The existence of molecular H 2 O and evolution of solar wind–derived water on the lunar surface remain controversial. We report that large amounts of OH and molecular H 2 O related to solar wind and other multiple sources are preserved in impact glasses from Chang’e-5 (CE5) lunar soil based on reflectance infrared spectroscopy and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry analyses. The estimated water content contributed by impact glasses to CE5 lunar soil was ~72 ppm, including molecular H 2 O of up to 15 to 25 ppm. Our studies revealed that impact glasses are the main carrier of molecular H 2 O in lunar soils. Moreover, water in CE5 impact glasses provides a record of complex formation processes and multiple water sources, including water derived from solar wind, deposited by water-bearing meteorites/micrometeorites, and inherited from lunar indigenous water. Our study provides a better understanding of the evolution of surficial water on airless bodies and identifies potential source and storage pathways for water in the terrestrial planets.

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The Distribution of Molecular Water in the Lunar South Polar Region Based upon 6 μm Spectroscopic Imaging

Cited by 11 publications

References 51 publications

Adsorption Kinetics of Water and Argon on Lunar Grains

Adsorption Kinetics of Water and Argon on Lunar Grains

Mysteries of Solar System Explained by WUM

Multiple sources of water preserved in impact glasses from Chang’e-5 lunar soil

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