Water found on the MOON ?

[General Duke]

Hundreds of millions of tons of water have been found on the Moon, and scientists believe that this considerable quantity would be sufficient to support life on the planet.

 

Wired describes the findings of the lunar probe:

 

A NASA radar aboard India's Chandrayaan-I lunar orbiter found 40 craters, ranging in size from 1 to 9 miles across, with pockets of ice. Scientists estimate at least

600 million tons of ice could be entombed in these craters.

 

 

Dr. Paul Spudis, with the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, told the BBC, 'Now we can say with a fair degree of confidence that a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible. It's possible using the resources we find there.'

 

As Dr. Spudis notes, the discovery of such vast sources of water has significant implications for the future of space exploration, as astronauts could use the water to sustain a base on the moon, or even to generate oxygen.

 

In November 2009, NASA announced that it had found a 'significant' amount of water on the moon following its LCROSS mission to 'bomb' the moon.

 

The most recent findings, which were shared at a Texas science conference, help pinpoint more precisely the location of the water, as well as its quantity.

 

[General Duke]

The image below shows the north pole of the moon and pinpoints the craters that scientists believe contain the stores of water.

 

[General Duke]

Ice deposits found at Moon's pole

By Paul Rincon

 

Science reporter, BBC News, The Woodlands, Texas

 

India's Chandrayaan-1 probe carried US equipment to the Moon

 

A radar experiment aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 lunar spacecraft has identified thick deposits of water-ice near the Moon's north pole.

 

The US space agency's (Nasa) Mini-Sar experiment found more than 40 small craters containing water-ice.

 

But other compounds - such as hydrocarbons - are mixed up in lunar ice, according to new results from another Moon mission called LCROSS.

 

The findings were presented at a major planetary science conference in Texas.

 

The craters with ice range from 2km to 15km (one to nine miles) in diameter; how much there is depends on its thickness in each crater. But Nasa says the ice must be at least a couple of metres thick to give the signature seen by Chandrayaan-1.

 

Dr Paul Spudis, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, estimated there was at least 600 million metric tonnes of water-ice held within these impact craters.

 

The equivalent amount, expressed as rocket fuel, would be enough to launch one space shuttle per day for 2,200 years, he told journalists at the 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

 

What all these craters have in common are large areas of their interiors that never see sunlight.

[General Duke]

Extreme cold

 

Temperatures in some of these permanently darkened craters can drop as low as 25 Kelvin (-248C; -415F) - colder than the surface of Pluto - allowing water-ice to remain stable.

 

"It is mostly pure water-ice," said Dr Spudis. "It could be under a few tens of centimetres of dry regolith (lunar soil)."

 

This protective layer of soil could prevent blocks of pure ice from vaporising even in some areas which are exposed to sunlight, he explained.

 

Ice thrown up by the LCROSS impact was in a crystalline form

 

In February, President Barack Obama cancelled the programme designed to return Americans to the Moon by 2020.

 

However, Dr Spudis said: "Now we can say with a fair degree of confidence that a sustainable human presence on the Moon is possible. It's possible using the resources we find there.

 

"The results from these missions, that we have seen in the last few months, are totally revolutionising our view of the Moon."

 

Chandrayaan-1 was India's contribution to the armada of unmanned spacecraft to have been launched to the Moon in recent years. Japan, Europe, China and the US have all sent missions packed with instruments to explore Earth's satellite in unprecedented detail.

 

In Nasa's LCROSS mission, a rocket and a probe were smashed into a large crater at the lunar south pole, kicking up water-ice and water vapour.

 

Spectral measurements of material thrown up by the LCROSS impact indicate some of the water-ice was in a crystalline form, rather than the "amorphous" form in which the water molecules are randomly arranged.

[General Duke]

Water source

 

"There's not one flavour of water on the Moon; there's a range of everything from relatively pure ice all the way to adsorbed water," said the mission's chief scientist Anthony Colaprete, from Nasa's Ames Research Center.

 

"And here is an instance inside Cabeus crater where it appears we threw up a range of fine-grained particulates of near pure crystalline water-ice."

 

Overall, results from recent missions suggest there could be several sources for lunar ice.

 

One important way for water to form is through an interaction with the solar wind, the fast-moving stream of particles that constantly billows away from the Sun.

 

Space radiation triggers a chemical reaction in which oxygen atoms already in the soil acquire hydrogen nuclei to make water molecules and the simpler hydrogen-oxygen (OH) molecule. This "adsorbed" water may be present as fine films coating particles of lunar soil.

 

In a cold sink effect, water from elsewhere on the lunar surface may migrate to the slightly cooler poles, where it is retained in permanently shadowed craters.

 

Scientists have also reported the presence of hydrocarbons, such as ethylene, in the LCROSS impact plume. Dr Colaprete said any hydrocarbons were likely to have been delivered to the lunar surface by comets and asteroids - another vital source of lunar water.

 

However, he added, some of these chemical species could arise through "cold chemistry" on interstellar dust grains accumulated on the Moon.

 

In addition to water, researchers have seen a range of other "volatiles" (compounds with low boiling points) in the impact plume, including sulphur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2).

 

The results from the Mini-Sar instrument are due to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The team is currently analysing results for craters at the Moon's south pole.

[SayidSomal]

whats in it for puntland? - maloo dhaan tegi kara?? awrka cirka biyaha ma lagu soo qaadi kara??

 

ha ama maya?

[General Duke]

^^^You are confused lad, this is a big story for humanity. Hopeless indeed.

 

Whats your take on the story?

[SayidSomal]

as per your signature 'humanity is an ocean' so how is water found in the moon a big story?

 

naga daa ninyohow - stick to the orange mobile motto.

 

horta weliga biyo ma soo dhaamisay? mise waxaan ku waydiiya 'dhaan' micnihiisa?

[General Duke]

I know simple concepts, confuse you a great deal. For someone who had difficulties understanding what a decade is, trying to get around the finding of water on the moon must be heartbreaking.

 

This is a scientific finding which if true, will go down as one of the most important. If water can exist on the moon, it can probably be found throughout the solar system.

 

I know, I am important to you, but stick to the topic for once.

[SayidSomal]

Acuudubilaahi mina shaydaani rajiim - Bismillaahi raxmaani raxiim.

 

admin - i love you too - can you please give me special privilege to bully my cyber cousins. honest - they don't mind.

[General Duke]

NASA says it has discovered millions of tonnes of water on the moon ‹ enough to support future missions, and even life.

 

The space agency reported that India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, which is exploring the moon's north pole region in a search for evidence of water, has captured images of at least 40 craters from two to 15 kilometres in diameter, all partially full of ice.

 

Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater ‹ and on how much ice is mixed with soil, which can't be as clearly detected in the images ‹ NASA estimates there could be at least 600-million metric tonnes in the newly explored area.

 

Last September, NASA and other scientists confirmed the existence of ice at the moon's south pole, as well as evidence of possible water spread over large areas of the lunar surface.

 

"After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit," Jason Crusan, program executive of the Mini-RF Program for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a release.

 

Scientists around the world are weighing in about what the discovery could mean.

 

Dr. Paul Spudis of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston told the BBC that this amount of water, if harnessed as fuel for a rocket, would be enough to launch one space shuttle per day for 2,200 years.

 

He also told media that it could provide for “a sustainable human presence” on the moon.

 

Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama cancelled a NASA program that was to return humans to the moon by 2020, turning focus instead to creating radically new space technologies.

[RedSea]

I don't see how this will benefit us humans. Nonetheless interesting discovery for the science community.