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[ white noise ]

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[ music ]

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Since the 1960's, scientists have suspected that frozen water could survive

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in permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles.

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Both hydrogen and oxygen could be trapped within the lunar soil.

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So to find water on the Moon, scientists are looking for indications of hydrogen

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using the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's LEND neutron detector.

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By observing the interaction of neutrons with the lunar soil,

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scientists can interpret how much hydrogen is likely to be present.

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In order to make a detailed interpretation, however, LEND needs to observe a large number of neutrons.

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Because LRO is constantly moving, LEND is never over one place long enough to count many neutrons.

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So, to make a detailed interpretation of neutron flux, scientists add together many measurements from many orbits.

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With each orbit LEND's dataset gets larger and its picture of neutron flux continually improves over time.

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The dark blue regions in this visualization are places on the south pole of the Moon

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with a suppressed flux of neutrons because of their interaction of hydrogen.

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These areas strongly suggest the presence of water frozen within the soil.

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While previous lunar missions have observed indications of hydrogen at the Moon's south pole,

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the LEND measurements for the first time pinpoint where hydrogen, and thus water, is likely to exist.

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By combining years of LEND data, scientists see accumulating evidence that there is water on the Moon.

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And as LRO continues to return data, our picture of the Moon and its water