Water on the Moon, Data from multiple missions seems to indicate... Options

[Juramike]

This probably deserves it's own thread. Seems the evidence is not specific to only one mission...

space.com article: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0909...-discovery.html

[elakdawalla]

I think people got confused about that -- the depth comes from the infrared spectrometers' ability to see only the top couple mm. THey were talking about that to contrast it with lunar prospector, which can see deeper. Now, you might argue that if LP didn't see H where the spectrometers do see it, that might be evidence that it's only in top couple of mm, but if the abundance was low enough, LP might not see it.

M3 only saw the water near the poles. Happens to be in highlands near the poles. Problem is that M3 only goes out to 3 microns, and has trouble detecting the signature where there's also thermal emission, equatorward of 60 degrees or so. VIMS does have holes over the maria, and this was a question I asked Roger Clark...who has never replied to any email I've ever sent to him. Oh well.

--Emily

[centsworth_II]

...the depth comes from the infrared spectrometers' ability to see only the top couple mm....

I wonder if the assumption that the water is limited to the top few mm is the result of an assumption that the water is created by the solar wind. That would limit its presence to the surface.