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Tiny moon shadows might harbor hidden stores of ice

Tiny moon shadows might harbor hidden stores of ice

Good news for thirsty astronauts: Hidden pockets of ice might be much more common on the surface of the moon than scientists once suspected. That鈥檚 the conclusion of new research led by Paul Hayne, assistant professor in the .

Hayne and his colleagues examined the moon鈥檚 cold traps, or dark and shadowy regions of the lunar surface that might be capable of harboring water ice. And, the team estimates, there might be a huge number of these nooks and crannies spread across the moon鈥攑otentially 15,000 square feet of them, some just the size of pennies and others much larger.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e right, water is going to be more accessible for drinking water, for rocket fuel, everything that NASA needs water for,鈥 Hayne said.

Principal investigator
Paul Hayne

Funding
NASA

Collaboration + support
CU Boulder Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences; Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP); Planetary Science Institute; Weizmann Institute of Science