It's official: Water found on the moon

[Kuroky]

6:09pm UK, Friday November 13, 2009
'Significant' Amount Of Water Found On Moon

Ian Collier, Sky News Online
A "significant" amount of water has been found on the Moon, according to Nasa.

Preliminary data from a Moon probe "indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater," Nasa said.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the Moon," it added in a statement.

The data was found after Nasa sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month in a dramatic experiment to probe for water.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the Moon's southern pole, at around 5,600mph.

It was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact.

Crash landing two spacecraft onto surface of moon

Mission was launched in October

"We are ecstatic," said Anthony Colaprete, project scientist and principal investigator for the LCROSS mission.

"Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact.

"The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water."

Scientists had previously theorized that, except for the possibility of ice at the bottom of craters, the moon was totally dry.

Finding water on Earth's natural satellite is a major breakthrough in space exploration.

"We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbour and, by extension, the solar system," said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at Nasa headquarters in Washington.

[wasi90lk]

i guess if this is true, it is certainly a great news. although i am not sure if earthlings will be able to use that water in the next few hundreds of years or so.

[ashirtha]

Yes, water is found on the moon. But the extraction of water from the moon is very tedious and expensive than taking water from here. But anyway, the total lunar surface is not explored, i think it may be found later also.

[whitelily]

if water is found on the moon. There might be lives there also

[timpane]

Well the The data was found after Nasa sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month in a dramatic experiment to probe for water.

[earvan]

Well that’s true and so I won’t be enough to make it a living option and with just a small amount, it can supply the humanity even the next generation.