

LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon - brlewis
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html

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anigbrowl
_But Colaprete couldn't resist a further tease, saying that other features in
the spectra hinted at a variety of additional chemicals. "This goes beyond the
water," he said, but declined to discuss any of this additional information,
suggesting that it was in the same state as the water findings were shortly
after the impact—they still haven't eliminated enough possible explanations,
so they can't talk about it with any confidence._

[http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/11/nasa-
announces-s...](http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/11/nasa-announces-
significant-quantities-of-water-on-the-moon.ars) ...includes pictures of
absorption spectra - anyone who can guess what lives around the other
significant data points? My knowledge of chemistry is sadly lacking...

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brlewis
"We are ecstatic," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and
principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
"Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle
vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The
concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further
analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water."

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bobbyi
Hasn't NASA announced new "breaking, clear evidence" of moon water/ ice every
year for the past decade?

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tocomment
That's just something the mainstream media does. They distall the press
releases into simple headlines. Thus some evidence for water on the moon = a
headline of water on the moon.

But this time it's for real...

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tocomment
Is this enough information/certainty to plan future missions? Can we count on
water being there to use for fuel, etc?

Or before that point will we need some kind of scout mission to figure out
specifics like "there are X lbs. of water at this site in 3 ice puddles here,
here, and here"? If so, how would such a mission work? Manned?

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Sapient
While it is good news, I still wonder when we will see an actual "moon-base"
Once established, it will definitely signal a new era of space exploration.
And perhaps a new era for humanity at the same time.

Maybe I read too much sci-fi...

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bjelkeman-again
The issue though is what are you going to do with a moon base? The moon does
not hold any significant resources which are useful in the further exploration
of the solar system. (Now, I don't know how much water there is on the moon,
but my guess is that it isn't enough of it to justify building a moon base
just for the water.)

Astroids, comets or Mars, that should be where the action is. :)

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InclinedPlane
Due to the exponential nature of the rocket equation the most important
resource needed for exploration of the Solar System is rocket fuel.

Water can be turned into rocket fuel by splitting it into Oxygen and Hydrogen.
Water and Oxygen are also very important consumables in spaceflight. Moreover,
Oxygen and water can be used to grow food.

It can be an order of magnitude more efficient to launch propellant from the
Moon than from the Earth. Given that, it starts to make sense to launch
unfueled spacecraft from Earth which fuel up with Lunar sourced propellants
(and other consumables) at a depot in Earth orbit or Lunar orbit. With such a
system you can use smaller, reusable launch vehicles from both the Earth and
the Moon to build a self-sustaining trans-Earth exploration infrastructure,
rather than continually building one-off efforts to get to Mars, the
asteroids, etc.

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RiderOfGiraffes
Cross reference: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=940314>

