Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Scientists think there is water ice hidden under the surface of the Moon. This ice could be very useful for future astronauts.
A team of scientists found a new way to look for the ice. They used something called moonquakes, which are like earthquakes but on the Moon.
Sound waves from moonquakes move faster through icy ground than through dry, dusty ground. This lets scientists find ice without digging.
This new method could help NASA pick good landing spots for astronauts. NASA wants to send people back to the Moon in the coming years.
- ice
- water that has frozen and become solid
- hidden
- not able to be seen; kept out of sight
- team
- a group of people working together on a task
- moonquake
- a shaking or trembling movement of the Moon's surface
- sound wave
- a moving vibration of energy that carries sound
- dusty
- covered with or full of fine, dry particles
- method
- a particular way of doing something
- astronaut
- a person who is trained to travel and work in space
Level 2 — Elementary
Scientists have long suspected that water ice lies buried beneath the Moon's surface, especially near its poles, but confirming exactly where it is hidden has been difficult and expensive.
A research team led by geologist Nicholas Schmerr at the University of Maryland has found a promising new way to search for it, using seismic waves produced by moonquakes, small tremors that regularly shake the lunar surface.
The team's computer models showed that seismic waves move two to three times faster through icy soil than through ordinary dry lunar dust. By studying how these waves bend and reflect, scientists can create a rough map of buried ice before ever drilling a hole.
This technique could prove valuable for NASA's Artemis program, which is planning crewed missions to the Moon's south polar region, where permanently shadowed craters are thought to hold valuable deposits of water ice for drinking, breathing air, and rocket fuel.
- buried
- placed or hidden underground or beneath a surface
- pole
- one of the two farthest points north or south on a planet or moon
- seismic
- relating to vibrations or shaking, especially caused by movement in the ground
- tremor
- a small shaking movement
- reflect
- to bounce back after hitting a surface
- crewed
- operated or staffed by a team of people, especially astronauts
- permanently
- in a way that lasts forever or does not change
- deposit
- a natural accumulation of a substance, such as a mineral or ice, in the ground
Level 3 — Intermediate
Confirming the presence of buried water ice on the Moon has traditionally required expensive drilling campaigns, but a study published July 31 in Science Advances by researchers at the University of Maryland, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Hawai'i proposes a far cheaper alternative: listening to moonquakes.
Lead author Harrison Lisabeth, working with geologist Nicholas Schmerr and colleague Matthew Siegler, ran computer simulations of small moonquakes traveling through underground ice deposits of varying composition and thickness. In every simulated scenario, the buried ice produced clear and distinctive changes in the resulting seismic signals.
The underlying principle is straightforward: seismic waves travel two to three times faster through icy regolith than through the Moon's ordinary dry, dusty soil. By analyzing how these waves speed up, slow down, and reflect off subsurface boundaries, scientists can infer both the presence and approximate quantity of buried ice without ever breaking ground.
The findings arrive at a pivotal moment for lunar exploration. China's Chang'e-7 mission, expected to launch as early as late August 2026, will carry a seismograph designed to register moonquakes directly, while NASA's Artemis program is targeting crewed landings in the Moon's permanently shadowed south polar craters as soon as 2028, sites where this seismic mapping technique could help identify the safest and most resource-rich locations to explore.
- campaign
- an organized series of operations carried out to achieve a particular goal
- simulation
- a computer-based model that imitates a real process or system
- composition
- the way in which something is made up or put together
- regolith
- the layer of loose, broken rock and dust covering solid bedrock on a planet or moon
- infer
- to work out or conclude something from evidence and reasoning
- subsurface
- located beneath the surface of the ground
- pivotal
- of crucial importance in relation to the development or success of something
- seismograph
- an instrument that detects and records vibrations, such as those from quakes
Level 4 — Advanced
Confirming subsurface water ice on the Moon has historically demanded costly, logistically fraught drilling campaigns, but a study published July 31 in Science Advances, authored by researchers spanning the University of Maryland, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Hawai'i, proposes a considerably more economical alternative grounded in the physics of moonquakes.
Lead author Harrison Lisabeth, alongside geologist Nicholas Schmerr and collaborator Matthew Siegler, conducted computational simulations modeling how seismic energy from small lunar tremors propagates through subsurface ice deposits of varying composition and thickness, finding that buried ice consistently imprinted a distinctive, recognizable signature onto the resulting seismic signal regardless of the specific scenario tested.
The technique exploits a straightforward physical principle: compressional waves travel roughly two to three times faster through icy regolith than through the Moon's characteristically dry, loosely packed dust. Careful analysis of how seismic waves accelerate, decelerate, and reflect off subsurface interfaces allows researchers to infer not merely the presence but the approximate volumetric extent of buried ice, all without the expense and risk inherent to physical excavation.
The research arrives at a strategically consequential juncture for lunar exploration. China's Chang'e-7 mission, slated to launch as early as late August 2026, will deploy a seismograph capable of directly registering moonquakes, while NASA's Artemis program is targeting crewed landings within the Moon's permanently shadowed south polar craters as soon as 2028, precisely the kind of ice-rich, scientifically and operationally critical terrain where this seismic mapping approach could meaningfully de-risk site selection ahead of any future drilling campaign.
- logistically fraught
- difficult or complicated to plan and carry out due to practical obstacles
- propagate
- to spread or travel outward through a medium, such as sound or seismic energy through rock
- compressional wave
- a type of seismic wave in which particles move back and forth in the same direction the wave travels
- interface
- a boundary between two different substances or materials
- volumetric
- relating to the measurement of volume, or the amount of space something occupies
- excavation
- the process of digging into the ground to remove material or expose what lies beneath
- juncture
- a particular point in time, especially a critical or significant one
- de-risk
- to reduce the level of risk or uncertainty involved in a decision or plan
Talk about this article with KatePractice this story's vocabulary in a real spoken conversation with your AI tutor