Two-gallon buckets of water has been found on the moon

14.11.09 / Uncategorized / Author: asia news ia

Asianewsia - 14 nov 2009. A significant amount of frozen water has been found on the moon, the united states space agency said on Friday heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and 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 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 20-30-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.

“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.

“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.

Colaprete said any lunar water would have to be extracted and purified before it could be used for drinking.