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Water on the Moon: a Billion Gallons
Scientists Say LCROSS Moon Mission Found Enough Ice in Crater to Fill 1,500 Olympic Pools
Water on the moon? Scientists used to think it was as dry as, well, lunar dust.
But after a year of analysis NASA today announced that its LCROSS lunar-impact probe mission found up to a billion gallons of water ice in the floor of a permanently-shadowed crater near the moon's south pole.
That's enough, said researchers, to fill 1,500 Olympic-size swimming pools, all from one crater.
Spoiler
If there is ice there, it probably exists in other places on the moon as well. They also found silver, mercury, carbon monoxide and ammonia.
LCROSS was an empty rocket stage that was deliberately crashed into the moon last year, while a small satellite trailing it took chemical measurements of what it kicked up. Its target, a crater called Cabeus, was chosen because it is so deep that sunlight never reaches the bottom -- and any ice there, mixed in the soil, would never have a chance to vaporize. The ice might have remained frozen there for billions of years.
"To our surprise, some of the permanently shadowed regions had no water, but some of the areas that receive sunlight occasionally did have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, a member of the research team.
The LCROSS researchers had already announced preliminary findings last November -- about a third less water than they reported today -- and refined their numbers in the months since. Their conclusions appear today in the journal Science.
Finding large amounts of water on the moon could be important, not just for science, but for future exploration by astronauts. Water, essential for human survival, would be heavy and expensive for spacecraft to bring from earth. But if astronauts land near ice deposits, as NASA has long hoped, they could, in effect, live off the land.
The ice could be melted and purified for drinking and cooling of spacecraft systems -- and beyond that, it could also be broken down into its components, hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen could be used as rocket fuel; oxygen could be used for breathing.
"This place looks like it's a treasure chest of elements, of compounds that have been released all over the moon and they've been put in this bucket in the permanent shadows," said planetary geologist Peter Schultz of Brown University in Rhode Island in a statement.
How much water did they actually find? The researchers said the satellite measured about 41 gallons in the debris from the 60-foot crater gouged out by the crashing rocket. Since the ice was mixed in with rock and dust, its chemical signature -- H2O -- was mixed in with the myriad minerals to be found in lunar soil.
Actually no, I don't have the cash to afford the move - but if my numerous adoring H8ers want to take up a collection that covers my moving expenses, I'd definitely go there.
|||Hey, I remember Moonbase Alpha. It tried to make lady aliens sexy, by giving them sideburns.
Oh, the water part. Yeah, I knew they'd find my secret stash at some point. The cool-aid mix is on the dark side if they have a giant wooden spoon handy.|||I hope this is just an example of your twisted humour Merf.
I mean you are free to move to the moon just make sure you can send back pockets of conservative wisdom to the forum.
You're like that chair that grandpa sits on.
Place wouldn't be the same without you (Granted it'd look nicer - but still).
-Art|||Here's the NASA article:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news...21oct_lcross2/
The Lunar penal colonies will be declaring independence right on schedule.|||Quote:
The Lunar penal colonies will be declaring independence right on schedule.
That was my first thought.|||I hear that the internet lags horribly there.|||Quote:
I hear that the internet lags horribly there.
Weird, that is where I heard Al Gore got the internet.|||Quote:
Hey, I remember Moonbase Alpha. It tried to make lady aliens sexy, by giving them sideburns.
Oh, the water part. Yeah, I knew they'd find my secret stash at some point. The cool-aid mix is on the dark side if they have a giant wooden spoon handy.
Diggin the mutton chops.|||Quote:
Diggin the mutton chops.
I was always partial to the Skittles-as-eyebrows, personally.
But hey, why should the alien chick get all the attention?
|||The first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread's title was a "30 Rock" episode I saw recently, which featured Buzz Aldrin pointing at the moon and yelling "Ha-ha, I walked on your FACE, you stupid moon!"It was easily the best thing that TV's done in a years.
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