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Lunar poles are as dry as dust: Study
Paris, Nov 13: Any lingering hopes that the moon may contain hidden deposits of ice at its poles have been dashed by a study using ground-penetrating radar, which shows that even at its extremities, earth`s satellite seems waterless.
Paris, Nov 13: Any lingering hopes that the moon may
contain hidden deposits of ice at its poles have been dashed
by a study using ground-penetrating radar, which shows that
even at its extremities, earth's satellite seems waterless.
Smithsonian Institution researcher Bruce Campbell and
colleagues scanned the lunar poles using a radar with a
wavelength of 70 cm, which is capable of penetrating
several metres of dust and which would strongly reflect any
thick ice.
But the radar images yielded no evidence of any significant deposits of frozen water.
"Any ice in these regions must be in the form of disseminated grains or thin (cm or less) interbedded layers," Campbell's team reports in today's issue of Nature, the British science weekly.
The findings confirm scans of the moon's surface by unmanned missions, notably the 1998-9 US spacecraft Lunar Prospector.
The absence of detectable water could be because impacts with the lunar surface by icy comets have been few, the scientists say.
Alternatively, any water that rises to the lunar surface is rapidly lost into space.
Bureau Report
But the radar images yielded no evidence of any significant deposits of frozen water.
"Any ice in these regions must be in the form of disseminated grains or thin (cm or less) interbedded layers," Campbell's team reports in today's issue of Nature, the British science weekly.
The findings confirm scans of the moon's surface by unmanned missions, notably the 1998-9 US spacecraft Lunar Prospector.
The absence of detectable water could be because impacts with the lunar surface by icy comets have been few, the scientists say.
Alternatively, any water that rises to the lunar surface is rapidly lost into space.
Bureau Report