When astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first scraped their boots in the moon's powdery gray dust nearly 40 years ago, they both remarked about how arid Earth's closest neighbor seemed.

"It's like much of the high desert of the United States," Armstrong radioed back to Mission Control. "Magnificent desolation," Aldrin agreed.

Analysis of the 832 pounds of lunar soil and rocks the Apollo crews lugged home reinforced Armstrong's and Aldrin's first impressions, helping convince scientists that the moon was bone-dry through and through. The fiery Earth-versus-planetoid collision 4.5 billion years ago whose debris formed the moon seemingly obliterated water's chemical building blocks there.

But new research by a team including Case Western Reserve University geochemist James Van Orman suggests the waterless moon concept may be all wet.

Read more of Plain Dealer Science Writer John Mangels' story and post your comments