NASA finds water on the moon
A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon,
the US space agency said 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.
A view of the lunar surface. AFP |
"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 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.
The rocket was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped
with cameras to record the initial 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 (66- to 100-foot) 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 vapour 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.
Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University
and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission, expressed hope that more
water could be found on the moon. "What's really exciting is we've only
hit one spot," Schultz said.
"It's kind of like when you're drilling for oil. Once you find it one
place, there's a greater chance you'll find more nearby."
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 of 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."
Colaprete said any lunar water would have to be extracted and purified
before it could be used for drinking.
"There's methanol in there. I wouldn't drink it. You'd go blind," he
said. "If you could clean it, it would be drinkable water," he added.
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.
WASHINGTON, AFP |