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Scientists: Moon Holds More Water than Ever Thought
The moon may hold water in more places and in larger amounts than scientists have suggested in the past.
The finding is based on two studies – published in Nature Astonomy — that examined new data from the U.S. space agency NASA. The discovery could be important for planned, long-term human bases on the moon. It could mean that enough resources exist on the moon itself to provide drinking water and possibly help produce rocket fuel.
Until about 10 years ago, scientists believed the moon was mostly dry. Then, a series of findings provided evidence that water ice was widespread in small amounts on parts of the moon. The ice was thought to be in areas permanently blocked from sunlight.
But in one of the new studies, NASA said it was able to confirm the presence of water molecules on sunlit parts of the lunar surface. The space agency says the identification came from data collected by its SOFIA airborne observatory. SOFIA is a Boeing 747SP aircraft equipped with a powerful telescope.
The research was led by Casey Honniball of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. "Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space," Honniball said in a statement. "Yet somehow we're seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there."
Scientists have suggested the source of the water may have been comets, asteroids, solar wind or interplanetary dust. The new research provides evidence the water may be surviving on sunlit lunar surfaces because it is attached to minerals.
"A lot of people think that the detection I've made is water ice, which is not true," Honniball told a news conference to announce the finding. "It's just the water molecules — because they're so spread out they don't interact with each other to form water ice or even liquid water."
The second study centered on so-called "cold traps" on the moon. These are areas of the lunar surface that exist in a state of permanent darkness where temperatures are below about minus 160 degrees Celsius. Scientists say temperatures this cold can hold frozen water for billions of years.
Researchers say they were able to reconstruct the size of the cold traps and where they sit from images and temperature readings from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. They identified cold traps as small as a few meters across and others as wide as 30 kilometers.
Planetary scientist Paul Hayne of the University of Colorado, Boulder led the research on cold traps. He estimated there are likely "tens of billions" of traps. "Since the little ones are too small to see from orbit, despite being vastly more numerous, we can't yet identify ice inside them," Hayne said. "Once we're on the surface, we will do that experiment."
Hayne's team says the new research suggests more than 40,000 square kilometers of the moon's surface may have the ability to trap water in the form of ice. That estimate is 20 percent bigger than predicted in the past, Hayne said.
Jacob Bleacher is the chief exploration scientist for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. He told reporters the agency believes it is very important to find out more about where the water came from and how accessible it is.
"Water is extremely critical for deep space exploration. It's a resource of direct value for our astronauts," Bleacher said. He noted that water is heavy and costly to transport from Earth.
"Anytime we don't need to pack water for our trip, we have an opportunity to take other useful items with us," he said. That may include materials that could be used to carry out bigger scientific experiments on the moon.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
重點講解：
1. be based on 以…為基礎；
The study was based on data from 2,100 women.
這項研究基於從2,100名女性那裡收集來的資料。
2. spread out 相隔很遠的；分散的；
The Kurds are spread out across five nations.
庫德人散居在 5 個國家中。
3. center on （使）以…為中心；（使）注意力集中於；
The topic centers on the crisis in these two countries.
話題以那兩個國家的危機為中心。
4. carry out 實施；執行；實行；
He pledged that there would be no whitewash and that the police would carry out a full investigation.
他保證將不會有任何掩飾，並且警方將進行全面調查。
參考譯文
科學家稱月球上的水比我們想像中多
與科學家此前所提出的相比，月球上存在水的地方可能更多，而且含量也更大。
這一發現基於發表在《自然·天文學》期刊上的兩項研究，這兩項研究對美國國家航空航天局（簡稱NASA）的最新數據進行了審查。這一發現對於計劃中的長期人類月球基地具有重要意義。這可能意味著月球本身有足夠的資源來提供飲用水，可能幫助生產火箭燃料。
直到大約10年前，科學家仍認為月球大部分是乾旱的。隨後，一系列發現提供了證據，證明月球部分地區存在少量水冰。冰層被認為是永久性阻擋陽光的區域。
但在一項新研究中，美國國家航空航天局表示，其能夠證實月球表面陽光照射的部分存在水分子。美國國家航空航天局表示，這一發現來自索非亞航空天文臺收集的數據。索非亞是一架波音747SP飛機，配備了強大的望遠鏡。
這項研究由馬裡蘭州的美國國家航空航天局戈達德太空飛行中心的凱西·霍尼貝爾領導。霍尼貝爾在聲明中表示：「如果沒有厚厚的大氣層，月球表面上的水會因受到陽光照射而流失到太空中。「但是我們還是發現了水。一定有什麼東西在產生水，並把水困在了那裡。」
科學家認為，水的來源可能是彗星、小行星、太陽風或行星際塵埃。這項新研究提供了證據，證明水附著在礦物上時，可能存在於陽光照射下的月球表面。
霍尼貝爾在宣布這一發現的記者會上表示，「許多人認為我探測到的是水冰，但事實並非如此。我探測到的是水分子，因為它們分布得非常廣，不會相互作用形成水冰甚至液態水。」
第二項研究聚焦月球上所謂的「冷阱」。這些區域是月球表面長期處於黑暗狀態的區域，那裡的溫度低於零下160攝氏度。科學家表示，如此寒冷的溫度可以使水凍結數十億年。
研究人員表示，他們能夠根據美國國家航空航天局月球勘測軌道飛行器的圖像和溫度讀數，重建這些冷阱的大小及所在位置。他們發現了直徑只有幾米的冷阱，也發現了直徑高達30公裡的冷阱。
科羅拉多大學博爾德分校的行星科學家保羅·海恩領導了對冷阱的研究。他估計月球上可能有「數百億」個冷阱。海恩說：「儘管小冷阱的數量要多得多，但因為過小而無法從軌道上看到，所以我們尚不能確定其內部是否有冰。登上月球之後，我們會馬上進行這項實驗。」
海恩的研究團隊表示，新研究表明，月球上可能有超過4萬平方千米的表面具有捕獲水的能力。海恩說，這一比例比過去的預測高出20%。
雅各布·布朗徹是美國國家航空航天局人類探索和行動任務理事會的首席探索科學家。他對記者表示，該機構認為，了解這些水的來源以及可利用程度的更多信息非常重要。
布朗徹表示，「水對深空探測至關重要。這對我們太空人來說是直接資源。」他指出，從地球上運輸水耗力又耗錢。
他說：「如果我們不需要為旅行打包水，那我們就有機會隨身攜帶其他有用的物品。」這可能包括可用於在月球上進行更大科學實驗的材料。
布萊恩·林恩報導。