{"565151":{"#nid":"565151","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Can Solar Winds Form Water on the Moon and Mercury?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EHuman habitats need water. The prospect of human colonies outside of Earth drives the search for extraterrestrial water, especially in liquid form.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe presence of water on planets and other celestial bodies is gleaned initially from data gathered by space missions of the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/\u0022\u003ENational Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)\u003C\/a\u003E. For example, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.news.gatech.edu\/2015\/09\/28\/mineralogical-confirmation-liquid-water-present-day-mars\u0022\u003Eevidence laid out by Georgia Tech College of Sciences researchers in 2015 to establish that liquid water flows on Mars\u003C\/a\u003E originated from images and spectral data obtained by the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/mro\/\u0022\u003EMars Reconnaissance Orbiter\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther NASA missions have returned tantalizing suggestions of water on Earth\u2019s satellite, the Moon, according to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chemistry.gatech.edu\/faculty\/Orlando\/\u0022\u003EThomas M. Orlando\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ww2.chemistry.gatech.edu\/~orlando\/epicslab\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u003C\/a\u003E and an adjunct professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/thomas-orlando\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cResults from the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/discovery.nasa.gov\/m3.cfml\u0022\u003EMoon Mineralogy Mapper\u003C\/a\u003E on the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.isro.gov.in\/Spacecraft\/chandrayaan-1\u0022\u003EChandrayaan-1 spacecraft\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu\/\u0022\u003EVisual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer\u003C\/a\u003E on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/cassini\/main\/index.html\u0022\u003ECassini spacecraft\u003C\/a\u003E, and the extended mission for the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/content\/nasa-the-deep-impact-spacecraft\/#.V6dZbfkrKCg\u0022\u003EDeep Impact\u003C\/a\u003E spacecraft have implicated the existence of hydroxyl and water on the Moon,\u201d Orlando says\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESimilarly, Orlando adds, data from the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/messenger.jhuapl.edu\/\u0022\u003EMESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging)\u003C\/a\u003E mission suggests the presence of water on or in the polar regions of Mercury.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor both the Moon and Mercury, planetary scientists have posited that the water could come from surface reactions of solar winds bombarding the heavenly bodies. At the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.acs.org\/content\/acs\/en\/meetings\/fall-2016.html\u0022\u003EACS National Meeting in Philadelphia\u003C\/a\u003E, Orlando presents evidence suggesting that solar winds could form water on specific regions of Mercury but not the Moon.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESolar winds are streams of ionized particles\u2014mostly protons and electrons\u2014so energetic that they escape the sun\u2019s gravitational field. They hurtle at speeds of \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov\/SolarWind.shtml\u0022\u003E1 million miles per hour\u003C\/a\u003E, with temperatures of up to \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.qrg.northwestern.edu\/projects\/vss\/docs\/space-environment\/3-what-is-solar-wind.html\u0022\u003E1 million degrees Celsius\u003C\/a\u003E. Continuous blasts of these energetic particles would obliterate any life that might exist on a surface. Thanks to its strong \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pbslearningmedia.org\/resource\/nvsl.sci.space.magnetic\/earths-magnetic-shield\/\u0022\u003Emagnetic shield\u003C\/a\u003E, Earth experiences only a fraction of the radiation\u2019s full fury.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Moon, however, is not protected from solar winds. And Mercury\u2019s shield is not as strong as Earth\u2019s. Researchers have speculated that water could form on the Moon and Mercury as high-energy protons in the solar winds hit surface minerals. Could this be the water hinted by infrared absorptions detected by mission instruments -- around 3 micrometers, characteristic of H\u003Csub\u003E2\u003C\/sub\u003EO, but also of hydroxyls (OH)?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENASA doesn\u2019t have assets on the ground that could help explain mission data, which are gathered from tens of kilometers above the surface of the Moon, says \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/science.gsfc.nasa.gov\/sed\/bio\/william.m.farrell\u0022\u003EWilliam M. Farrell\u003C\/a\u003E of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center. Experiments in the laboratory that replicate extraterrestrial surface processes, he adds, \u201care the next best approach.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the lab, Orlando and others make well-controlled measurements of the physical and chemical changes happening on a mineral sample from the Moon under conditions similar to an onslaught by solar winds. \u201cWe make measurements using techniques developed by the surface chemistry and physics communities, and we then collaborate with planetary scientists to help them understand their mission data,\u201d Orlando says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe measurements suggest that any water molecule formed in the sunlit areas of the Moon would disappear. \u201cWhere there is solar flux,\u201d Orlando explains, \u201cthe lunar surface warms up too much and the water doesn\u2019t stick.\u201d Water molecules could also desorb and leave the surface when they are bombarded by energetic photons.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo what are mission instruments seeing at 3 micrometers on the sunlit areas of the Moon? \u201cThat absorption is due to O-H bending and stretching,\u201d Orlando explains. \u201cSome planetary scientists think it\u2019s water. We\u2019re saying it\u2019s not water. It can\u2019t be water. Water won\u2019t stick.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe experiments in Orlando\u2019s lab suggest that when the solar wind bombards the Moon, protons embed into the oxide-rich rocky materials on the lunar surface, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/2013JE004599\/epdf\u0022\u003Eforming hydroxyls\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cI\u2019m in the chemistry department,\u201d Orlando quips. \u201cWater is H\u003Csub\u003E2\u003C\/sub\u003EO. If I say water is OH, I\u2019ll get fired.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOrlando and coworkers have modeled the proton implantation that they believe happens on the Moon. When they apply the model to Mercury, Orlando says, \u201cthe story changes for an important reason: Mercury gets really warm, and at those temperatures, the hydroxyls find each other and can produce water by a process known as recombinative desorption.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFurthermore, the water molecules formed on Mercury would not disappear, because calculations show that they would not have enough velocity to escape Mercury\u2019s gravitational field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA plausible scenario is that the water molecules hop around Mercury\u2019s surface until they get to the poles. And because temperatures are much lower there, the water molecules stay for a very long time.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe believe that under specific conditions the solar wind can make water on Mercury and some of this water can eventually deposit on the poles,\u201d Orlando says. For now, this hypothesis is based on extrapolation from modeling. Orlando and his team will be designing experiments to test it.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat the terrific research at Georgia Tech is finding is that any silica-rich rock exposed to solar wind can generate OH, and if warmed, like at Mercury, may even thermally generate water,\u201d Farrell says.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe hypothesis leads to other questions: If water is formed under specific conditions in Mercury, could it diffuse to the subsurface instead of desorbing? Could Mercury harbor pools of underground water?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe can\u2019t bring water jugs to the Moon or anywhere else outside Earth,\u201d Orlando says. \u201cThat\u2019s why NASA is very interested in the prevalence and availability of water.\u201d At the same time, he adds, \u201cthere\u2019s real understanding now in the planetary science and astrophysics community that fundamental chemistry and surface science has to be part of the story.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFunding for Orlando\u2019s work is from the NASA \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/sservi.nasa.gov\/sserviteams\/\u0022\u003ESolar System Exploratory Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI)\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/vortices.jhuapl.edu\/Team-Bios\/index.php\u0022\u003EVolatiles, Regolith, and Thermal Investigations Consortium for Exploration and Science (VORTICES) team in the Applied Physics Laboratory at John Hopkins University.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Lab experiments with lunar mineral samples suggest different outcomes."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELab experiments with lunar mineral samples suggest different outcomes.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Lab experiments with lunar mineral samples suggest different outcomes."}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2016-08-18 14:52:38","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:23","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-08-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"565141":{"id":"565141","type":"image","title":"Thomas Orlando","body":null,"created":"1471546187","gmt_created":"2016-08-18 18:49:47","changed":"1475895369","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:09","alt":"Thomas Orlando","file":{"fid":"206893","name":"thomas.orlando.14c10202-p28-003.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thomas.orlando.14c10202-p28-003.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/thomas.orlando.14c10202-p28-003.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1592451,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/thomas.orlando.14c10202-p28-003.jpg?itok=0VaCAquB"}},"565181":{"id":"565181","type":"image","title":"Water is not OH","body":null,"created":"1471547010","gmt_created":"2016-08-18 19:03:30","changed":"1475895369","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:09","alt":"Water is not OH","file":{"fid":"206895","name":"water_is_h2o.capture.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/water_is_h2o.capture.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/water_is_h2o.capture.png","mime":"image\/png","size":24963,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/water_is_h2o.capture.png?itok=A-VfA1if"}}},"media_ids":["565141","565181"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"172273","name":"Mercurt"},{"id":"4191","name":"moon"},{"id":"170602","name":"Planetary science"},{"id":"166928","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"},{"id":"95521","name":"Thomas Orlando"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EA. Maureen Rouhi\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDirector of Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollege of Sciences\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maureen.rouhi@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}