Billions of years ago, lava spilled onto the moon’s surface. The substance molded areas on the moon to form patterns such as “the man on the moon”. It also left another legacy: ice.
For two billion years, scientists theorize, volcanic eruptions may have spewed water vapor into the air, eventually making its way to the moon. These sprays may have even created short-lived atmospheres on the moon. The water vapor might have squeezed its way through the atmospheres and settled on the poles as ice. The source and extent of moon ice is “a really interesting question,” says Andrew Wilcoski, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Andrew Wilcoski and his colleagues wanted to find if volcanoes were the source of lunar ice. Using samples of ancient lunar magma, they assumed that water made up one-third of the gases from the volcanos. Using the information, they calculated how much water the eruptions released.
The result was astounding: 20 quadrillion kilograms of water erupted from the volcanos. For comparison, that’s about the mass of all five Great Lakes combined!
Some of the water may have disappeared as the sun broke down the water molecules. The solar wind would have also blown other water molecules off the surface of the moon. But at the frigid cold poles, some of the water could have stuck to the surface as ice. Over billions of years, the ice would slowly build-up, making them what we know as the lunar poles today.
For the ice to form, the water vapor would’ve had to turn into ice faster than it could escape the moon. Wilcoski and his team used a computer model to compare and calculate these rates. That model accounted for many important factors such as the moon’s surface temperature, gas pressure, and the loss of some vapor to frost. The frost formed along the side of the moon like an icy glaze on the windshield of a car in the morning.
If the moon’s ice started as water vapor from volcanos, the ice may keep a memory of that origin. For example, sulfur in the ice would suggest that it came from a volcano instead of, say, an asteroid.
Looking for sulfur will be important when thinking about lunar resources. The water reserves may one day be mined by astronauts for drinking water. But if all that water contains sulfur, then it won’t be safe to consume. And like one scientist named Margaret Landis once said, “That’s a pretty critical thing to know if you plan on bringing a straw to the moon.”
For two billion years, scientists theorize, volcanic eruptions may have spewed water vapor into the air, eventually making its way to the moon. These sprays may have even created short-lived atmospheres on the moon. The water vapor might have squeezed its way through the atmospheres and settled on the poles as ice. The source and extent of moon ice is “a really interesting question,” says Andrew Wilcoski, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Andrew Wilcoski and his colleagues wanted to find if volcanoes were the source of lunar ice. Using samples of ancient lunar magma, they assumed that water made up one-third of the gases from the volcanos. Using the information, they calculated how much water the eruptions released.
The result was astounding: 20 quadrillion kilograms of water erupted from the volcanos. For comparison, that’s about the mass of all five Great Lakes combined!
Some of the water may have disappeared as the sun broke down the water molecules. The solar wind would have also blown other water molecules off the surface of the moon. But at the frigid cold poles, some of the water could have stuck to the surface as ice. Over billions of years, the ice would slowly build-up, making them what we know as the lunar poles today.
For the ice to form, the water vapor would’ve had to turn into ice faster than it could escape the moon. Wilcoski and his team used a computer model to compare and calculate these rates. That model accounted for many important factors such as the moon’s surface temperature, gas pressure, and the loss of some vapor to frost. The frost formed along the side of the moon like an icy glaze on the windshield of a car in the morning.
If the moon’s ice started as water vapor from volcanos, the ice may keep a memory of that origin. For example, sulfur in the ice would suggest that it came from a volcano instead of, say, an asteroid.
Looking for sulfur will be important when thinking about lunar resources. The water reserves may one day be mined by astronauts for drinking water. But if all that water contains sulfur, then it won’t be safe to consume. And like one scientist named Margaret Landis once said, “That’s a pretty critical thing to know if you plan on bringing a straw to the moon.”
