The glass beads aren’t the first time we’ve seen water on the Moon. NASA crashed a probe into the Cabeus crater in 2009, resulting in the finding of water; in 2018, NASA discovered direct evidence of ice deposits in the Moon’s permanently shadowed craters near its north and south poles. NASA and China/Russia want to establish lunar bases near the Moon’s South Pole within the next decade; both rival efforts expect to have livable sites operational by the early-to-mid-2030s.
