The Moon’s surface holds more water than we thought

Those who love Mardi Gras would probably feel right at home on the Moon. According to a study published yesterday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Geoscience, our lunar surface contains trillions of gallons of previously-undiscovered water that’s embedded in microscopic glass beads scattered across its surface.

There’s no word yet on whether you can run a string through ‘em – but the study’s findings could help future lunar missions produce drinking water, breathable air, and rocket fuel.

📿 More details… The study’s evidence came from a Chinese rover that spent two weeks on the Moon in December 2020, where it drilled down several feet into the lunar surface and brought 3.7 pounds of material back to Earth for analysis.

The lunar sample included thousands of millimeter-wide glass beads (pictured above), which originated from past asteroid impacts or volcanic activity. And much like Dippin’ Dots stands in a baseball stadium, they’re found across the entire surface of the Moon.

• After analyzing over 100 of the beads, Chinese scientists discovered that water was embedded inside most of them. And while the amount of water in each individual bead was miniscule, there are a LOT of beads on the Moon’s surface – enough to provide an estimated 71 trillion gallons of water.
• For context, that’s enough to supply all of the American public’s water needs for nearly five years. And all future missions have to do to access the H2O, per the study, is collect the beads containing water and heat them to a temperature of 212°F.

🌕💧 Zoom out: It’s potentially not just our Moon that contains this form of H2O. The researchers say they think other moons orbiting planets in the Solar System contain similar or even larger amounts of water embedded inside glass beads.