Water, Water, Everywhere – from the Earth, the Moon, Mars, and Beyond

Water, essential for life as we know it, is an important indicator of the conditions present on other planets and moons throughout recent history and in the distant past. The presence and state of water and other similar volatile compounds throughout our own solar system provides insight into its formation, and the origin of the life-sustaining environments that it supports. The fact that water is found in otherwise extreme environments on other planets and moons may indicate the presence of active, dynamic processes at work that serve to replenish this otherwise fragile, volatile resource. Water is also a potential resource that future human space missions can utilize in order to engage in the sustainable exploration of our solar system. In this talk I will discuss the significance of recent discoveries of water in the most unlikely of places – our own Moon – and what this means for our understanding of how both the Moon and our solar system have evolved over time. Mars represents the converse case – whereas it was no great surprise to find water there, it is likely that a significant amount of it was lost over time. The importance and value of observations from recent space missions in addressing these questions will be discussed, as we seek to understand more about our own origins as well as our future destinations beyond Earth.

Speaker: Greg Delory, UC Berkeley