[Infowarrior] - NASA: Water found in moon crater

[Richard Forno]

NASA: Water found in moon crater

By ALICIA CHANG
The Associated Press
Friday, November 13, 2009; 1:31 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/13/AR2009111301986.html?hpid=topnews

LOS ANGELES -- It turns out there's plenty of water on the moon - at  
least near the lunar south pole, scientist said Friday.

"Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we  
found a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, a principal  
project investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center.

The discovery came from an analysis of data from a spacecraft NASA  
intentionally crashed into the moon last month.

Colaprete estimated the impact kicked up at least 25 gallons of water.

Significant water would make it easier to set up a base camp for  
astronauts.

Previous spacecraft have detected the presence of hydrogen in lunar  
craters near the poles. In September, scientists reported finding tiny  
amounts of water mixed into the lunar soil all over the lunar surface.

The mission actually involved two moon shots. First, an empty rocket  
hull slammed into Cabeus crater. The shepherding spacecraft recorded  
the drama live before it also crashed into the same spot minutes later.

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On the Net:

LCROSS mission:http://www.nasa.gov/mission(underscore)pages/LCROSS/main/index.html