Scientists Confirm Ice Exists At Moon's Poles

The existence of ice on the Moon’s surface was on Tuesday confirmed by scientists.

According to researchers in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, previous observations could have been explained by other phenomena, such as unusually reflective lunar soil.

“This is the first time scientists have definitive evidence for the presence of water ice on the surface,” lead author Shuai Li told AFP.

It was learned that the ice mainly lies in the frigid shadows of craters at the lunar poles.

Further reports have it that it was detected using instruments that flew on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian Space Research Organisation.

Researchers, Using data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument, identified three chemical signatures “that definitively prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon,” a NASA statement read.

It is unclear exactly how much ice exists on the surface, since the instruments could only detect ice within a few millimeters of the Moon’s surface.





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