Polar caps on the Moon

Abstract

The Moon very likely has polar caps, but not as conspicuous as the Earth or Mars; the Moon’s caps must be hidden under the surface. The southern polar cap is probably more aquiferous than the northern one. Our indication of ground water at the poles has been obtained by a remote sensing method. We use the gravity aspects, namely the combed strike angles, derived from a global gravity field model of the Moon (now providing the ground resolution ∼10 km already sufficient for this purpose). We cannot estimate the absolute amount of the lunar water, only the contrast between the polar areas and the other regions; the contrast is high, statistically significant – to 8 times more groundwater at the poles. For the southern polar zone, we confirm the results achieved by others, and we do it in a completely independent way. The lunar water is necessary for future permanent human missions on the Moon, like Artemis; they will start near the southern pole. Thus, our findings would have immediate applications. Observe and download: https://www.asu.cas.cz/~jklokocn/MOON25_supplements/