Research Suggests Water Content Of Moon Interior Underestimated
Excerpt: NASA-funded scientists estimate from recent research that the volume of water molecules locked inside minerals in the moon's interior could exceed the amount of water in the Great Lakes here on Earth. ..."For over 40 years we thought the moon was dry," said Francis McCubbin of Carnegie...The origin of the moon is now commonly believed to be the result of a Mars-sized object that impacted the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. This impact put a large amount of material into Earth's orbit that ultimately compacted to form the moon. The lunar magma ocean that is thought to have formed at some point during the compacting process, began to cool. During this cooling, water either escaped or was preserved as hydroxyl molecules in the crystallizing minerals.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_10-144_Water_In_Moon.html
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/jun/HQ_10-144_Water_In_Moon.html