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Lunar Impactor Finds Clear Evidence of Water Ice on Moon
from Wired
There is water on the moon, NASA confirmed [Friday], and lots of it. In the first look at results from the LCROSS mission, which sent a probe crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole, NASA's main investigator said their instruments clearly detected water, despite the underwhelming plume.
Within the field of view of their instruments, the team measured approximately 220 pounds or about 26 gallons of water. Next, the team will try to understand how the compounds they saw in the plume relate to what's actually embedded in the lunar regolith at the bottom of the permanently shadowed crater.
"We need to take all the information--the amount of ejecta, the size of the crater--and reconstruct the entire event and understand how it all fits back into the ground," Colaprete said at a NASA Ames press conference.
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