Chandrayaan-1 data shows presence of ice on Moon, confirms NASA

Frozen deposits of water have been found in the darkest and coldest parts of the Moon’s polar zones. The data from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, that was launched by India in 2008 has revealed so, according to NASA. For future expeditions to explore and stay on the Moon water would possibly be accessible there as a resource.  It would probably be easier to access this water than the water detected beneath the Moon’s surface.

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The ice deposits are patchily distributed and could possibly be ancient’ according to the study published in the journal PNAS.

Most of the new-found water ice lies in the shadows of craters near the poles, where the warmest temperatures never reach above minus 156 degrees Celsius. The ice in the southern pole is concentrated at lunar craters, while the northern pole’s ice is more widely spread.

Due to the very small tilt of the Moon’s rotation axis, sunlight never reaches these regions.

NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument helped scientists identify three specific signatures that prove there is water ice at the surface of the Moon.

Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was distinctively equipped to confirm the presence of solid ice on the Moon.

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It collected data that uniquely measured the way its molecules engage with the infrared light, so it can differentiate between liquid water or vapour and solid ice.