THERE is ten times as much water on the Moon as scientists thought
(This Week, 14 March, p 5) and it may also be easier to collect.
Further analysis of data recorded by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft reveals
that the ice is concentrated in smaller areas than had been assumed, reports
Bill Feldman of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico (
Science, vol 281, p 1496). He says these areas “look like they overlie
permanently shaded regions at the north and south poles”.
Feldman estimates the total amount of water at three billion tonnes, enough
to fill a lake about 100 metres deep and 6 kilometres across. If he’s right, the
water could be in a series of icy layers, making it easier to recover than if it
was dispersed thinly through the lunar surface layer.
