NASA: Spacecraft Confirms Water on Moon

Satellite That Crashed Into Crater Yields Debris With Presence of Water

(AP)  Last Updated 3:14 p.m. ET

It turns out there's lots of water on the moon - at least near the lunar south pole.

The discovery announced Friday comes from an analysis of data from a spacecraft NASA intentionally crashed into the moon last month.

"Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, the mission's principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center.

The lunar impact kicked up at least 25 gallons of water and that's only what scientists can see, Colaprete said.

Having an abundance of water on the moon would make it easier to set up a base camp for astronauts by providing drinking water and an ingredient for rocket fuel.

The latest finding is further evidence that the moon is not the dry, barren place it appears and could reinvigorate scientific interest.

"This is not your father's moon," said Greg Delory of the University of California, Berkeley, who was not part of the research. "Rather than a dead and unchanging world, it could in fact be a very dynamic and interesting one."

Delory said the next focus should be to figure out where the water comes from and how much of it there is.

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, last month slammed into one of moon's permanently shadowed craters near the south pole to study whether ice was buried underneath.

The mission actually involved two moon shots. First, an empty rocket hull slammed into the Cabeus crater. A shepherding spacecraft recorded the drama live before it also crashed into the same spot four minutes later.

Though scientists were overjoyed with the plethora of data beamed back to Earth, the mission was a public relations dud. Space enthusiasts who stayed up all night to watch the spectacle did not see the promised debris plume in the initial images.

NASA scientists had predicted the twin impacts would spew six miles of dust into space. Instead, images revealed just a mile-high plume.

Scientists spent a month analyzing data from the spacecraft's spectrometers, instruments that can detect strong signals of water molecules in the plume.

Previous spacecraft have detected the presence of hydrogen in lunar craters near the poles, which could be evidence of ice. In September, scientists reported finding tiny amounts of water mixed into the lunar soil all over the lunar surface.

"We've had hints that there is water. This was almost like tasting it," said Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission.

Mission scientists said it would take more time to tease out what else was kicked up in the moon dust.

For more pictures and video, visit the NASA LCROSS Web site.

[Void_Master]

Hey conspiracy theorists! Get a clue. You honestly think the U. S. government can keep a secret regarding other intelligent life in the universe? It couldn't even keep a presidential BJ under the desk a secret.

Think! Think!

Oh well whatever. Somebody has to wash dishes.

[Void_Master]

by kenhamlett November 13, 2009 5:07 PM EST

Seriously we should already be sending our space junk to the moon to be used later as raw materials for building. It would not take much, just enough fuel to put it in the right trajectory and then a little more to ground it all in one area.

***

Actually, far superior to sending out trash to the moon would be ejecting it from Earth into the opposite direction Earth is traveling around the sun. That would all be ensure that such garbage would eventually fall into the sun.

In fact, the only parts that would not fall into Sol would be the few pieces that were struck by other objects or that fell onto Venus or Mercury. Such misses would be so negligible as to not matter.

And it's not like we're going to pollute the sun. All of Earth could fall into it and it would not harm the sun.

[tiktin]

I'll tell you what I think. a) I do not believe there is any water on the moon; b) I think NASA is lying; c)I think they are lying to get more money for moon exploration. d)I do not believe that NASA any longer has the capability of sending a man to the moon and bringing him back alive.

[garyl615]

A base camp for what??? to bring back some rocks..with global warming...we won't need the water...Come on now lets focus!

[Noval53]

The moon is an excellent location to return to for many reasons. It's an excellent training ground and platform for a launch onward to Mars. The moon will also be an outstanding location for observatories that can look further out into space than any earth bound telescope. The moon will be especially valuable for monitoring, early warning, and defending the earth from inbound dangers such as asteroids or comets.

[Lickedy]

Yeah, I can see how the hydrogen molecule developed from the space craft. The fact is the environment of the Moon is a Vacuum of at least 31 inches in height. Water cannot remain in this environment, it becomes a gas. The gas molecules get struck by infrared radiation and the result is burned. Sorry, No Water on the MOON ! ....back to the drawing boards.

[Nunnally_Kallen05081987]

that was a good news for all mankind...but could it really be possible that moon will be our second living planet?

[wwudiver]

Truly wonderful, one of the largest stories of our history. Water is life, life is on our nearest neighbor, life is abundant. This is the big one.

[jacicaalban]

Only One word to characterize such a great post ?WOW? that was a very interesting read
such a wonderful information for me..i am really impress it.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2167423

[licht1]

Why is NASA really seeking water on the Moon?

see:

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/water-on-the-moon/

[Nate0u812]

There are several problems with most of the people looking at this. NASA was not surprised there was water there the even knew where to look for it. That is why the mission was a success.
While it is nice to worry about cold beer space is a cold place the beer will be beyond cold. While this is humorous, there are some interesting things at play here. The plan for a manned base on the moon is important. It does provide a place to launch were things weigh less and more mass is able to leave the surface. As mentioned, there is O2 but the other element from water is Hydrogen. The large tank on seen attached to the Space Shuttle. The tank is full of hydrogen the Shuttle uses this as rocket fuel. Therefore, if there is sufficient water to sustain a skilled workforce, provide air, and supply fuel for a craft to leave the surface we have our first real spaceport.
I see people bashing bush and praising Obama and vise versa. The truth is Nixon put the brakes on the Space program and it has yet to recover. It is also hard for people to realize that every aspect of our lives improves with space travel. Things like Teflon of course but are you aware the Hubble telescope has improved both breast cancer detection and treatment. Are you aware the average family spends more on their cable bill than they do for the taxes supporting the space program? It is easy to dismiss worries about cost. The money is spent on space not in space. It creates jobs here on Earth, which returns money into a struggling economy. Finally, the return on the space program is excellent. It would be great if out stock market or 401k programs had as good of return. For every dollar spent on the space program 8 dollars returns to the United States economy.
The problem is the space program is like most government programs inefficient mismanaged and short sighted. Maybe it is time to get the private sector in and let investors make plans and call some shots. Maybe we could catch up. We went to the moon in rockets powered by kerosene and les computing power than a child?s toy. Where would we be if we put our resources to work in a proper fashion?

[kelyhope]

since NASA is going to bomb the moon because of water... what if the bomb hits the US flag? http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2149951

[barbaram99]

I 'member when men walked on the moon. I followed every Apollo flight as it happened. I was a teen ager. Yep, I wound rather they learn more about our world and space,I hate war.That great they found water on the moon. I hope we go bace..The ladies have never walked there. Maybe they will.

[UKAIS2009]

Very sad!
This is full shame on media (CBS, FOX, CNN, ABC, MSNBC), Politicians and US Army as a whole because they could hide such a big thing from general public for so long consuming public money. I don't have any word that can be bad for these idiots. I am sure one day Public will win and all these crooks will be taken behind the bars.

[AndyMaxo]

I like the professor's comment "This not your father's Moon". HA! We could set up a beer brewery and call it "Moon Beer". We could use the Space shuttle to bring it to earth and drop free cases down all across the country on mini parachutes, as it glides down towards Florida.

[blue922]

NASA has become so irrelevant. They are playing someones agenda to slowly lead up to full disclosure regarding other life in the universe that it's pathetic. There is pretty much no voice in government, ours or anyone elses, that can be trusted or is worth listening to.

If NASA wanted to conduct pure passive-sensory research, devoid of someones agenda, and not wasting money on any manned exploration, then, along with help from Steve Jobs or someone, might get the mojo back. Otherwise YAWN.

[stn_sage]

LMAO! How convenient! Don't want to use the satellite anymore, crash it, and then report WHAT THEY ALREADY KNEW to the public...as a DISCOVERY!

I'm glad they acknowledge what REAL independent scientists and researchers have been saying for YEARS...that there's water on the moon!

Now...if they'd 'fess up to "other" known facts...they could 'move into the 21st century' scientifically; if they don't...other nations' scientists will! THEN...the American public is going to be asking BIG QUESTIONS about why NASA didn't know these things already when they had just as good of equipment AND a FIFTY YEAR head start?!

They could start by answering questions about the atmosphere, vegetation, suitability for industrial use, and then...WHY we're REALLY not going back there anymore!

C'mon, NASA! Telling the truth will only hurt for a few seconds...then it's behind you!

[bubbadubba]

<<<Perhaps we should use this money to destroy another country and then rebuild it instead.>>>

I have just the country. hint - A country that goes around destroying other countries for profits, is controlled by the wealthy and oil companies, the politicians are nothing but a bunch of bribe taking liars, and the country is in a depression due to tax cuts for the wealthy and no regulation of big business.

[Disinfectant]

Yea you would LOVE to see this country destroyed wouldn't ya? Your kind is the problem. Always has been. There is an answer to the problem and that is to make sure people like you are exposed for the enraged, self destructive, dysfunctional, simpletons you really are.

[denvermorgan3000]

Well with the space shuttle fixin to be retired i wonder how we gonna get there its not like you can just call a taxi and say drive me to the moon im sure the russians gonna be sellin bottled water on the moon before we even get started.

[Overruled1]

The Space Shuttle program was not designed for long trips to the moon, it was designed to service the now long dead SkyLab program. The name is a bit misleading, its more an orbiting truck that lands like a brick, but has aerodynamic shape called a lifting body is used to ease the landing along with a parachute.
The new program is called Ares. There are 5 different versions, I don't know which will in the end be the workhorse, but I imagine they all have a part in the future missions to the moon.
They start at 325 ft and top off at 381 on the ares 5.
The adventure is only beginning.....if we can keep our planet together.

[us_1776]

Ares is already dead. Big fat expensive chemical rockets that cost bizillions of dollars to fly just doesn't cut it. We need a fleet of small commuter rockets is all to get to the ISS. There we assemble a spaceship that uses ion-propulsion so that we can go to Mars with a lander. We need to start thinking big again like back in the 60's. Mars can be terraformed. The moon is not possible to terraform. You could eventually establish a self-sustaining human colony on Mars. Not possible on the Moon. In the event of a cataclysmic collision with an big asteroid, the moon would be affected as well as the earth. A self-sustaining olony on Mars is humankinds best bet for preventing all of human knowledge and existence from being wiped out.

[legionofwolves]

the moon is important, its smaller and will be easier to reach escape velocity, which means less fuel. the water there is vital for any type of extended stay on the moon or anywhere else.

[denvermorgan3000]

yeah but even if we escape the moon they aint no where else to go in space.