At a press conference held today at NASA Headquarters (2:00pm Eastern Sept. 24,2009), the M3 team announced that spectral evidence for the presence of water and hydroxyl (OH) on the surface of the Moon exists in M3 data.  The evidence exists in the form of a strong absporption feature in the 3µm region of the electromagnetic spectrum that occurs in spectra for several areas of the Moon.  The feature is observed systematically across the Moon. Two other instruments, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, and the High-Resolution Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (HRI-IR) on NASA’s EPOXI (Deep Impact) spacecraft, have confirmed the M3 observations.

The image below is a false-color composite showing the distribution of water and hydroxyl on the lunar surface in blue.  Variations in Fe-bearing mineralogy appear in the green and orange tones. Click the image to see all images released by NASA at the press conference.

Water/Hydroxyl detected at High Latitudes

To see details of the press conference, click here. The M3 paper can be found on the Science Express website. Also, this blog will be updated with new information in the coming days and weeks.