Water On Moon May Have Come From Earth, Claims Study

People have always been fascinated by the Moon, which is why studies are being conducted to colonise it.

Now, in a new study, the scientists of University of Alaska Fairbanks say that there could be water molecules as well as ice up there on the Earth's satellite.

Fourteen years ago, in 2008, India's Chandrayan Mission led the discovery of water on the moon. Now, the researchers behind this discovery have revealed where this water comes from.

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According to scientists, hydrogen and oxygen ions escaping from Earth's upper atmosphere and mixing on the Moon might have formed up to 3,500 cubic kilometres (840 cubic miles) of surface frozen or underlying liquid water.

The scientists say that the Moon travels through the Earth's magnetosphere's tail, which is why they believe that hydrogen and oxygen ions were pushed into the lunar surface (the teardrop-shaped bubble around Earth affected by its magnetic field).

Gunther Kletetschka, an associate professor of the UAF Geophysical Institute, formed a team of scientists that investigated one source of water on the lunar surface.

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Kletetschka and his team used data from a lunar spacecraft of American space agency NASA to find gravitational anomalies that signal deep-water deposits in order to better locate and measure the water.

A study published in the journal Nature in March says it is probable that a density contrast was detected, which is consistent with the presence of a water phase with a possible terrestrial origin.

“Using novel gravity aspects (descriptors) derived from harmonic potential coefficients of gravity field of the Moon, we discovered gravity strike angle anomalies that point to water phase locations in the polar regions of the Moon,” the journal further stated.