water – Page 2 – GOLLYGEE!

Image from the first moon walk

Scientists have known for almost five years now that the moon is watery–or at least that lots of water molecules are trapped in its crust and its permanently dark, frozen craters. The prevailing theory is that this water comes from molecules in the solar system. But maybe the moon has had water all along, according to a new study of Apollo moon rocks.

Hejiu Hui of Notre Dame, Youxue Zhang of the University of Michigan and their colleagues studied several rocks from the lunar highlands, recovered during the late Apollo missions. One rock was nicknamed the “genesis rock” after Apollo 15 astronauts recovered it on a crater rim. The rock was thought to have come from the moon’s primordial crust.

The researchers used infrared spectroscopy to peer inside the rocks without disturbing them, and were able to analyze the rocks’ water content. It’s not really water, per se, but the related chemical known as hydroxyl, which contains one atom each of oxygen and hydrogen.

on MARS!

Martian rocks resemble rocks in a streambed from Earth.

Curiosity has taken pictures that suggest that there was once a fast moving stream of water on the planet Mars. Photos of rocks on the planet’s surface are surprisingly similar to rock formations formed in ancient streambeds here on Earth. From Associated Press:

The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars — a find that the mission’s chief scientist called exciting.

There have been previous signs that water existed on the red planet long ago, but the images released Thursday showing pebbles rounded off, likely by water, offered the most convincing evidence so far of an ancient streambed.

There was “a vigorous flow on the surface of Mars,” said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology. “We’re really excited about this.”

The discovery did not come as a complete surprise. NASA decided to plunk Curiosity down inside Gale Crater near the Martian equator because photos from space hinted that the spot possessed a watery past. The six-wheeled rover safely landed Aug. 5 after a nail-biting plunge through the Martian atmosphere. It’s on a two-year, $2.5 billion mission to study whether the Martian environment could have been favorable for microbial life.

Martian rock formations near Curiosity’s landing site are thought to have been molded by an ancient fast moving stream of water.

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water on the moon

curiosity finds signs of ancient stream