Water reserves on the moon: how are they renewed

The moon is the only satellite of our planet and the object of close attention of scientists. Despite the long history of the study, the mass of factual and photographic material obtained with the help of aircraft, the Moon still contains many mysteries and secrets.

One of the priority areas is the search on the moon for rare metals and water. The fact of the presence of water resources on the lunar surface is interesting not only in itself. Water will be useful to the first settlers who will develop the surface of our satellite. After all, if there will be built a base for mining or a launch pad for further space exploration, then water will come in handy.

For a long time it was believed that water could not exist on the moon. This was due to the lack of atmosphere and the weak attraction of the lunar surface. On our planet, which is protected by the atmosphere, all the conditions for the existence of water in all three states are created: ice, liquid and water vapor. On the moon, things are completely different.

The fact is that the Moon makes one revolution around its axis in about 27 days. Thus, it turns out that the Sun shines at any point in our satellite for 13.5 days. At this time, the lunar surface, not protected by the atmosphere, warms up to almost 110 degrees. Naturally, with such indicators, water, if any, turns into steam and leaves the lunar surface forever. And then on the moon comes night 13 days long, and the temperature instantly drops to minus 150-200 degrees.

Significantly helped to advance in the search for water data obtained from the Indian satellite "Chandrayan-1". It was launched to the Moon in 2008, and the main task of this device was to detect water and other minerals on the surface of the Moon, as well as mapping its surface. “Chandrayan-1” entered a lunar orbit and worked there for a little more than 300 days, after which communication with it was lost forever. But the satellite managed to transmit to Earth a large amount of valuable information, the decoding and interpretation of which astrophysicists will be engaged in for many more years. One of the most important discoveries was the discovery of water ice reserves on the moon. Accumulations of ice masses were discovered in the region of the lunar north pole.

But the further sensational discovery struck and inspired the scientific world even more. It turns out that the water on the moon not only exists, but is constantly updated. This is evidenced by the fact that the concentration of water on the lunar surface changes dramatically depending on the time of day. That is, on the surface of our satellite processes are constantly going on that cause the formation and movement of ice masses.

Now scientists put forward various hypotheses explaining the cause of the appearance of water on the lunar surface. Indeed, the new data do not fit into the existing ideas and require further research. Be that as it may, our closest cosmic neighbor still holds many secrets. Perhaps it is we who will witness the opening of the first lunar station.