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Originally published in Science Express on 24 September 2009
Science 23 October 2009:
Vol. 326. no. 5952, pp. 568 - 572
DOI: 10.1126/science.1178658
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Reports

Character and Spatial Distribution of OH/H2O on the Surface of the Moon Seen by M3 on Chandrayaan-1

C. M. Pieters,1,* J. N. Goswami,2,3 R. N. Clark,4 M. Annadurai,3 J. Boardman,5 B. Buratti,6 J.-P. Combe,7 M. D. Dyar,8 R. Green,6 J. W. Head,1 C. Hibbitts,9 M. Hicks,6 P. Isaacson,1 R. Klima,1 G. Kramer,7 S. Kumar,10 E. Livo,4 S. Lundeen,6 E. Malaret,11 T. McCord,7 J. Mustard,1 J. Nettles,1 N. Petro,12 C. Runyon,13 M. Staid,14 J. Sunshine,15 L. A. Taylor,16 S. Tompkins,17 P. Varanasi6

The search for water on the surface of the anhydrous Moon had remained an unfulfilled quest for 40 years. However, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has recently detected absorption features near 2.8 to 3.0 micrometers on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to hydroxyl- and/or water-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer hydrogen abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of hydroxyl and water are ongoing surficial processes. Hydroxyl/water production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration.

1 Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
2 Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India.
3 Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore, India.
4 U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO 80225, USA.
5 Analytical Imaging and Geophysics, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
6 Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
7 Bear Fight Center, Winthrop, WA 98862, USA.
8 Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA 01075, USA.
9 Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723–6005, USA.
10 National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, India.
11 Applied Coherent Technology Corporation, Herndon, VA 22070, USA.
12 NASA Goddard, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
13 College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424, USA.
14 Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719–2395, USA.
15 University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
16 University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996–1410, USA.
17 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, VA 22203, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: carle_pieters{at}brown.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Detection of Adsorbed Water and Hydroxyl on the Moon.
R. N. Clark (2009)
Science 326, 562-564
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Temporal and Spatial Variability of Lunar Hydration As Observed by the Deep Impact Spacecraft.
J. M. Sunshine, T. L. Farnham, L. M. Feaga, O. Groussin, F. Merlin, R. E. Milliken, and M. F. A'Hearn (2009)
Science 326, 565-568
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A Lunar Waterworld.
P. G. Lucey (2009)
Science 326, 531-532
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