What's the craze around water on the Moon?

The recent discovery of water on the non-polar region of the moon by NASA’s SOFIA sparked my interest to write this article.

We can see an obvious craze for discovery of water on any heavenly body, be it the Moon or be it, Mars. The first thing that might come to one's mind is that if there is a potential for life out there. The answer is more inclined towards no. Water may be an important ingredient for life but it is certainly not the only.

It is now very clear to scientists that the Moon is pretty much sterile. Therefore finding water is in no way an indication of life!

This illustration highlights the Moon’s Clavius Crater with an illustration depicting water trapped in the lunar soil there, along with an image of NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) that found sunlit lunar water. Credits: NASA.

How is this Different from Chandrayaan 1

SOFIA detected water on the Moon’s non-polar regions, making it different from ISRO Chandrayaan 1’s discovery of water ice inside dark, cold craters on the lunar poles.

The water SOFIA found is locked in the lunar soil and rocks. Interestingly, NASA’s M3 instrument on Chandrayaan 1 had seen hints of such trapped water in non-polar regions. But those missions couldn’t tell if what they had detected was water (H2O) or just hydroxyl groups (OH).

There are two implications of the discovery:

Sustainable Exploration

The water found on Moon can be used by future human missions to the Moon. The use of water is not limited to just drinking. As we know water is a very good solvent, it can be used as an ingredient in building material along with the minerals found on the Moon. To be sustainable on the Moon we must be able to produce various materials (which will, in turn, be used to make finished products) from what is present on Moon

Water can also be used as rocket fuel, as water contains both hydrogen and oxygen. Here hydrogen is the fuel and oxygen, the oxidizer , is a common combo for cryogenic liquid engines.

Also, it should be made clear that the concentration of water found is lesser than even the driest desert on earth. To make any meaningful extraction we still need to rely on poles and craters.

Likely water ice on the Moon’s north pole (marked by green circles) found by Chandrayaan 1 instrument Mini-SAR. Credit: NASA

Scientific

It is very important to map out and understand the distribution of water on Moon to get a complete geological understanding of the Moon. Water maybe present in combined form along with other minerals as crystalline hydrates. It is also present as water ice in polar regions of the Moon and in crater valleys that never receive sunlight. The relevance is to understand how water is transported on the Moon, so as to get a better handle on where on the Moon such resources are deposited. So the spatial distribution may reveal where the water comes from (probably meteors bring water as understood), and paint a better picture of the evolution of our celestial neighbor.