Moon's surface can make water thanks to solar wind, NASA experiment confirms

What just happened? For decades, scientists have puzzled over the origin of water on the Moon, a resource that could prove vital for future lunar exploration. Since the 1960s, a leading hypothesis has suggested that the Sun itself might be responsible, with its relentless stream of charged particles, known as the solar wind, interacting with the Moon's barren surface to create water molecules. Now, a new NASA-led experiment has provided the strongest evidence yet that this process is indeed taking place, confirming a theory that could reshape how we think about using the Moon's resources for human missions. The breakthrough comes from researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who set out to replicate the harsh lunar environment in the most realistic laboratory simulation to date. The Sun constantly emits the solar wind, a torrent of hydrogen protons traveling at speeds exceeding a million miles per hour. While Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere shield us from this bombardm ... Read full article.