Water Released from Moon During Meteor Showers
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- Visualizations by:
- Brian Monroe
- View full credits
Data from the LADEE spacecraft reveal that the lunar surface is periodically releasing water.
Music provided by Killer Tracks: Virtual Memory
Complete transcript available.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Scientists have discovered that water is being released from the Moon during meteor showers. When a speck of comet debris strikes the Moon it vaporizes on impact, creating a shock wave in the lunar soil. For a sufficiently large impactor, this shock wave can breach the soil’s dry upper layer and release water molecules from a hydrated layer below. The LADEE spacecraft detects these water molecules as they enter the tenuous lunar atmosphere, with peaks in the water signal correlating to known meteor showers on Earth. The discovery of water just beneath the Moon’s surface provides a potential resource for future exploration, and it improves our understanding the Moon’s geologic past and its continued evolution.
DIRECTOR’S CUT version featuring additional narration and an extended scientist interview.
Music provided by Killer Tracks: Collision Course; Ellipsis; Transcode (Instrumental)
3D rendering of Chandrayaan-1 by Dan Roam copyright 2018
Complete transcript available.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
SPANISH-LANGUAGE version
Music provided by Killer Tracks: Virtual Memory
Complete transcript available.
Watch this video on the NASA.gov Video YouTube channel.
For More Information
See NASA.gov
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Animators
- Brian Monroe (USRA) [Lead]
- Adriana Manrique Gutierrez (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Chris Meaney (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- John Blackwell (LPI)
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Data visualizer
- Ernie Wright (USRA)
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Scientists
- Dana Hurley (Johns Hopkins University/APL)
- Mehdi Benna (UMBC)
- Richard Elphic (NASA/ARC)
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Interviewee
- Mehdi Benna (UMBC)
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Art director
- Michael Lentz (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Producer
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Narrator
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Videographers
- John Caldwell (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
- Rob Andreoli (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
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Support
- Maria-Jose Vinas Garcia (Telophase)
- Paul Mahaffy (NASA/GSFC)
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Technical support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
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Narrator (spanish)
- Pablo Ramirez (Intern)