Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture Series Public Lecture
Water on the Moon
Ideas of whether the Moon contains water, and, if so, how much, have changed by a great deal over the years. The earliest observations of the Moon from Earth interpreted the dark nearside regions as “seas” that were later learned to be large volcanic flows in massive impact basins. Much later, when the first Apollo samples were analyzed, the Moon was believed to be “bone dry”. More recent laboratory and orbital remote sensing observations have provided additional clues that provide a complex but fascinating picture. This presentation reviews our current understanding of water on and inside the Moon, how it got there, and what it means for the history of our nearest neighbor in space.