ИСТИНА

Hydrogen has been inferred to occur in enhanced concentrations within permanently shadowed regions and, hence, the coldest areas of the lunar poles. Neutron flux measurements of the Moon’s south polar region from the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft were used for hydrogen mapping of the lunar south pole area. The final value corresponds to a water (as ice) content of ~4% by weight (Mitrofanov et al., 2010), which is in good agreement with independent estimates of the water content associated with the LCROSS Centaur impact site. The maximum total water vapor and water ice within the instrument field of view was 155 kilograms. Given the estimated total excavated mass of regolith that reached sunlight, and hence was observable, the concentration of water ice in the regolith at the LCROSS impact site is estimated to be 5.6 % by mass. In addition to water, spectral bands of a number of other volatile compounds were observed, including light hydrocarbons, sulfur-bearing species, and carbon dioxide (H2S/H2O, NH3/H2O, SO2/H2O, and CO/H2O). Of interest is the indication from this preliminary analyses that some volatiles other than water are considerably more abundant (some by orders of magnitude) than the ratios found in comets, in the interstellar medium, or predicted from gas-gas reactions in the protoplanetary disk.