Exploring the lunar water cycle

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Reiss, Philipp
• 署名单位: Technical University of Munich
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-12021
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321065121
• 发表日期: 2024-12-24
• 关键词: solar-wind implantation; surface-roughness; co2 ice; regolith; moons; h2o; hydrogen; atmosphere; transport; hydration

摘要

The presence of water on the Moon has been indicated by various remote- sensing observations and analyses of returned samples. Several missions are planned to conduct new in situ research on the lunar surface to directly observe and characterize lunar water. A comprehensive characterization of the present forms of water, their abundance, spatial distribution, temporal variation, and possible origin is required to understand the lunar water cycle and the relevance of individual source and sink mechanisms and transformations between the involved volatile species. These processes extend over vastly different scales, and the governing parameters are often insufficiently constrained by experimental and observational data. Here, I present a brief overview of the current state of knowledge on the lunar water cycle, its relevance for lunar science and exploration, and some of the main challenges of modeling and future in situ analyses aiming to substantially advance the understanding of lunar water occurrences.