NASA probe searches for water on Moon’s south pole
October 13th, 2009 - 7:22 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt ( 1 comment )
Moffett Field, Oct 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) On 9th October, in a scientific mission to solve the mystery whether the presence of lunar water is true or not, NASA had launched a special Moon-specific mission called Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). In this exploration NASA fired a rocket that crashed into the south pole of the Moon twice. The lunar impact produced such a cloud of debris through which scientists and analysts back on Earth could derive whether or not water actually exists in some form on the Moon.
According to reports, a two-ton empty rocket stage slammed into the eternally dark Cabeus crater near the Moon’s south pole at 4:31 a.m. PDT (7:31 a.m. EDT), intended to throw up a plume of spray from any ice that was there.
The video that was transmitted back from the rocket which crashed into the Moon’s south pole did not show, as hoped, the eruption of debris or plumes, but infrared devices did reveal a hot flash that indicated a crater about 18 to 20 yards (meters) wide.
“We didn’t see a big splashy plume like we wanted to see,” said Michael Bicay, director of science at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center.
“Water is essentially energy,” scientist Victoria Friedensen said on NASA TV. “It can be used to make fuel.”
Three separate studies released last month found definite evidence of lunar water, but the skein of water bound with dust that was disclosed then was extremely thin.
“It’s not enough to be of any economic importance,” said NASA Lunar Science Institute Director David Morrison.
“I was blown away by how long this little spacecraft lasted,” Tony Colaprete, the mission’s principal investigator, told a news conference. He said it got good spectroscopic data, which would show what elements were in the crater, that was created by the crash of the rocket in the Moon’s south pole and how they were changed by the heat of the first impact.
“The fact that we flew in, saw the crater and it was still glowing hot means that if there was ice there or a pool of water or whatever else, it was subliming (turning to vapor),” he said. “We got the data we need.”
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Tags: ames research center, david morrison, definite evidence, first impact, infrared devices, institute director, lcross, lunar crater, lunar impact, lunar science, lunar water, moffett field, nasa probe, nasa tv, national aeronautics and space, national aeronautics and space administration, s south, science institute, south pole, spectroscopic data
October 13th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Facinating! Marvelous!
Is there a danger that the data retrieved
will be that of the object creating the Moon
crater in the first place rather than that of the
Moon substance?