Water On The Moon

Never mind Venus today...water on the moon is one of the biggest reasons many felt space travel was essential. As we continue to voraciously consume our resources on Earth, did NASA really find water on the moon?

Time magazine reports water on the moon was found, a major breakthrough since we've been traveling to the moon. According to Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), "Yes, we found water."

Did they find water on the moon intentionally or by accident? The LCROSS mission was the one that ended with a huge crash on the moon's surface around a month ago. The crash was intentional an done in two separation stages on October 9. The crash made the discovery of water on the moon possible.

In a place where the water ice is tucked in craters near the poles, where the sun never shines and where temperatures are hundreds of degrees below zero, 24 gallons of water on the moon were found.

The first piece of LCROSS slammed into a crater called Careus located about 60 miles from the south pole of the moon, creating a hole of 60 feet across. Four minutes later, the second part of the space craft came down with the instruments analyzying the dust cloud to see what it was made of before finding water on the moon.

Information was not readily available at the time and Colaprete said it took 28-hour days to find water on the moon.

What is the importance of water on the moon? These discoveries help us to better understand the history of the moon. There are also those who feel the moon would be a place to relocate if we exhume all the resources here. Does water on the moon make Earth a throwaway planet now? Somehow I don't think so...