SUMMARY: Much of the surface of the moon is saturated with water--or at least the ingredients needed to make water, some new studies suggest. While mapping the moon, a trio of satellites including India's Chandrayaan-1 picked up signs of water (H2O) or hydroxyl (OH) or both. NASA's Cassini and Deep Impact were other space probes that allegedly found moon water.The water or hydroxyl molecules are bound to other molecules and exist only in trace amounts. Still, scientists estimate there is about a quart of water and/or hydroxyl for every cubic yard of lunar soil.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter recently found large amounts of hydrogen, a possible marker for water, at the moon's south pole. But Larry Taylor, a planetary geologist at the U. of Tennessee, thinks it might actually be water that was found. Taylor and associates believe lunar water and/or hydroxyl are created when hydrogen in the form of protons from the sun's solar wind strike oxygen-rich minerals and glasses on the moon's surface.
It's unclear whether the satellites detected water or hydroxyl, but both substances could prove useful on future missions to the moon. Even if the lunar soil contains only hydroxyl, it could be combined with lunar hydrogen to form freshwater. That would mean scientists could reduce payloads for spaceflights intended to maintain a future lunar outpost.
To read the entire article click on this link to NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC.
COMMENT: Secular scientists are desperate to find water on some body other than earth. In their minds, if water could be discovered elsewhere in space, the odds that life might also exist in outer space would significantly increase, because life, as we know it, could not exist without water.
Their wishful thinking is reflected in the misleading title of this National Geographic article--"There's Water on the Moon, Probes Confirm." It soon becomes apparent in reading the article that the existence of real, wet H2O on the moon is still far from a sure thing. Hydroxyl is not water.
We do know that the astronauts who visited the moon brought back samples of the lunar soil, and there never have been reports of water or life found in these samples. Just because the ingredients for water--hydrogen and oxygen--may be there doesn't mean water is there any more than having the ingredients for a cake on hand automatically makes a chocolate fudge cake.
What if some future space mission does discover water? That only means water was found and not life. All attempts to make life in the laboratory from nonliving substances so far have failed. Life requires a spark that nonliving materials cannot provide (the law of biogenesis: life can only come from life).
Life began with the original source of all life-our living Creator God. He got the process going during the creation week by designing all living organism to reproduce according to their kinds, thereby passing the spark of life from parents to offspring down to the present day. God is also the source of eternal life which He is offering to any and all who will accept the free gift of salvation available through faith in Jesus Christ.
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QUESTION OF THE DAY
As of the year 2007, what was the percent of plastics being recycled in the United States?Only 6.8%, which includes about 37% of plastic soda bottles and 28% of plastic milk and water jugs. Making products using recycled materials takes 50% less energy than starting from scratch.
Source: Discover (October, 2008)
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