a "significant" amount of frozen water now found on the moon

[bmah]

link here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091113...ncespaceusmoon

This gets scientists excited, but we still have a long way to go before we have anything to do with the moon other than for exploration. Interesting still.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon, the US space agency said Friday heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and boosting hopes of a permanent lunar base.

Preliminary data from a dramatic experiment on the moon "indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater," NASA said in a statement.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," it added, as ecstatic scientists celebrated the landmark discovery.

"Yes indeed we found water and we did not find only a little bit but a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, project scientist and principal investigator for the 79-million-dollar LCROSS mission.

The data was found after NASA sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month in a dramatic experiment to probe Earth's nearest neighbor for water.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the lunar southern pole, at around 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) per hour.

Moon holds key to solar system's secrets

The rocket was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact which sent a huge plume of material billowing up from the bottom of the crater, untouched by sunlight for billions of years.

"In the 20 to 30 meter crater we found maybe about a dozen, at least, two-gallon buckets of water. This is an initial result," Colaprete told reporters.

"We are ecstatic," he added in a statement.

"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," Colaprete said.

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.

"It's very exciting, it is painting a new image of the moon," said Gregory Deloy, from the University of California hailing it as "an extraordinary discovery."

He theorized that "one of the possible source of water is a comet."

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

"The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich," Colaprete cautioned.

"Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances. The permanently shadowed regions of the moon are truly cold traps, collecting and preserving material over billions of years."

Only 12 men, all Americans, have ever walked on the moon, and the last to set foot there were in 1972, at the end of the Apollo missions.

But NASA's ambitious plans to put US astronauts back on the moon by 2020 to establish manned lunar bases for further exploration to Mars under the Constellation project are increasingly in doubt.

NASA's budget is currently too small to pay for Constellation's Orion capsule, a more advanced and spacious version of the Apollo lunar module, as well as the Ares I and Ares V launchers needed to put the craft in orbit.

A key review panel appointed by President Barack Obama said existing budgets are not large enough to fund a return mission before 2020.

[reddarkd]

Indeed I've always been interesting in space exploration, but I think this is a pretty big thing

[leonid]

impressive

[DotKritic]

The United States, India, and China all plan on landing man on the Moon by 2020.

[XXXsmittyXXX]

Moon base! MOONBASS!!! uhn tss uhn tss uhn tss

[Dr Tran]

i found water in the toilet after dropping two ass rockets but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

[GG_Guru]

i dropped Dr Tran in the toilet but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

[A2P]

This is amazing. Like...why isn't this all over CNN right now

[leonid]

Originally Posted by Dr Tran

i found water in the toilet after dropping two ass rockets but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

lmao

[RockyRoadIceCream]

Originally Posted by GG_Guru

i dropped Dr Tran in the toilet but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

Do you guys get it?
Because Dr. Tran said he dropped 2 ass rockes in the tolet and said hes not making a big deal about it.
And then Guru came around and said he dropped Dr. Tran in the toilet and not making a big deal out of it.

How.
Hillaious.
lul

[mikevick07]

Originally Posted by GG_Guru

i dropped Dr Tran in the toilet but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

ROFL!

[OneHandNow]

Moonbeam!!

[Dr Tran]

Originally Posted by GG_Guru

i dropped Dr Tran in the toilet but you dont see me making a big deal out of it

of course you did ethiopia of course you did ^_^




this is really great news though hopefully NASA gets their budget increased

[A2P]

Originally Posted by A2P

This is amazing. Like...why isn't this all over CNN right now

I'm really serious. This is major news.

[funmonkey54]

Originally Posted by Dr Tran

hopefully NASA gets their budget increased

Because that's what America needs the most right now.

[inojokeyou]

sweet

[Dr Tran]

Originally Posted by funmonkey54

Because that's what America needs the most right now.

wasnt talking about now

[Bluearrowll]

This is awesome

[Gundam-Dude]

very cool discovery

moonbases would be amazing

[Kibblre]

Vacation on the moon, anybody?

I agree A2P, why the hell isn't this on the news?