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.

[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?