Seismic waves from moonquakes could become one of the most useful tools for finding water ice buried beneath the moon's surface, according to research recently published by geologists at the University of Maryland, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Hawaii.
The study, reported by Phys.org, examines how seismic waves travel through the lunar surface and what they reveal about ice deposits that are invisible to standard imaging. Unlike Earth, where seismic data has been used for decades to locate underground resources, the moon presents unique challenges. Its surface is covered in fine dust, and most ice deposits do not appear clearly in photographs or standard orbital scans.
Water ice on the moon matters for reasons that go well beyond scientific curiosity. Future astronauts living and working on the moon will need a steady water supply. Ice can also be processed into oxygen and broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen to produce rocket fuel. Bringing water from Earth is expensive and logistically difficult, which makes finding it on the moon a high priority for mission planners.
Nicholas Schmerr of the University of Maryland, who co-authored the study, put the stakes plainly. "It's crucial to identify any materials on the moon that an astronaut can make use of while they're up there," he said.
The origins of lunar water are not fully understood. Scientists believe some of it arrived via comets or asteroids that struck the moon over billions of years. Other deposits may have formed through volcanic activity that transported water from the moon's interior to its surface. The solar wind and meteor showers may also play a role, bombarding surface rocks and triggering chemical reactions that release water molecules.
Evidence for lunar water comes from multiple sources, including rocks collected during the Apollo missions, data from China's Chang'e 5 probe, the SOFIA airborne observatory, and imaging work by scientists involved in the Chandrayaan program. Researchers believe the water likely accumulated gradually over millions or billions of years rather than arriving in a single large impact event.
Lunar water is thought to be a briny mixture, combining materials native to the moon with compounds delivered by chondritic asteroid impacts. Scientists have not ruled out the possibility that some regions deep inside the moon could be warm enough to hold liquid water, though proving that would require better data about the moon's core structure.
Some analyses also suggest that a portion of the moon's water could date all the way back to the moon's formation, when a Mars-sized object collided with early Earth and sent debris into orbit that eventually became the moon.
The Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon, is among the missions that will depend on finding and using whatever ice exists. Understanding where it is, how deep it lies, and how accessible it might be will shape decisions about where to build lunar habitats and how to sustain crews once they arrive. Using moonquakes as a detection method could give mission planners a clearer map of those resources before astronauts ever set foot on the surface.
