Water on The Moon, II. Origins & Resources

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history and recent findings on lunar water, focusing on its origins and resource potential, especially following the 2009 LCROSS mission's discovery of water in shadowed lunar regions.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of current data to understand the nature and sources of water and volatiles on the Moon, building on previous observational and laboratory studies.

Findings

Water confirmed in shadowed lunar regions by LCROSS

Implications for lunar water origins and distribution

Potential for lunar water as a resource

Abstract

In Part I we recount the history of observation and laboratory measurement culminating with the excavation of water from a permanently shadowed region near the lunar South Pole by the impact of the LCROSS mission in 2009. In this installment we consider what the current data imply about the nature of water and other volatile substances on and in the Moon.