Many people seem to be dramatically overestimating our knowledge of the moon's composition. When did we definitively proven there was substantial amounts of wat

Many people seem to be dramatically overestimating our knowledge of the moon's composition. When did we definitively proven there was substantial amounts of water on the moon? Most would probably think the answer would be the 60s or the 70s. In reality the answer is 2009 [1]. And similarly China's recent landing on the moon has reshaped our understanding of the moon as it turns out the geography of the area in which they landed was substantially different than that on which the US/USSR landed in the 60s/70s. [2] That discovery came in 2014! The point I'm getting at here is that it's always wise to keep our ignorance in mind. Deep penetrating radar and other technologies can provide substantial information, but it's still limited. Our lack of knowledge is an ongoing and major constraint. And the interesting thing is that the more we learn, the more desirable the moon seems to become. And of course it also goes the other way. The best people making the best decisions can come to decisions that later seem less than correct. The most recent example there being the discovery that the colored streaks on Mars being briney water -- it turns out it may indeed just be sand after all. [1] - https://www.space.com/7328-official-water-moon.html https://www.space.com/7328-official-water-moon.html [2] - https://phys.org/news/2015-03-china-yutu-lunar-rover-moon.html https://phys.org/news/2015-03-china-yutu-lunar-rover-moon.ht...