
Ice confirmed at the Moon's poles - arto
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2018-195&rn=news.xml&rst=7218
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mrep
63 comments:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17810503](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17810503)

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komali2
>With enough ice sitting at the surface -- within the top few millimeters --
water would possibly be accessible as a resource for future expeditions to
explore and even stay on the Moon, and potentially easier to access than the
water detected beneath the Moon's surface.

>Learning more about this ice, how it got there, and how it interacts with the
larger lunar environment will be a key mission focus for NASA and commercial
partners, as we endeavor to return to and explore our closest neighbor, the
Moon.

What will be necessary to sort out how much water ice is "available?"
Wondering about colony feasibility

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johnydepp
> M3, aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, launched in 2008 by the Indian
> Space Research Organization, was uniquely equipped to confirm the presence
> of solid ice on the Moon. It collected data that not only picked up the
> reflective properties we'd expect from ice, but was able to directly measure
> the distinctive way its molecules absorb infrared light, so it can
> differentiate between liquid water or vapor and solid ice.

This is a big achievement by ISRO team given that they run in a fraction of
budget that NASA do. Though NASA contributed to M3.

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crazydoggers
Space exploration works best when all countries work together... I think there
were a number of instruments from ESA, JPL and others.

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thsowers
Dupe:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17810503](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17810503)

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rotrux
Anyone else not super impressed?

Water is important for carbon-based life, but so is a bunch of other stuff
like air, carbohydrates, aaaaaaaaaaaaaand also life...or at very least a very
serious mix of reactive chemicals...From a causation perspective I gotta go
back to the carbohydrate thing:

O-chem vs phys-chem. Find me a planet with a bunch of nitrogen/carbon in
addition to ~7pH hydrogen/oxygen and I'll get excited. Promise.

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lovich
Atomic or molecular hydrogen and oxygen aren't readily available so water is a
necessity that is hard to produce on the moon. Every necessary resource that
can be locally sourced decreases how hard it is to start a permanent base
drastically.

For instance, if theres water we can more easily grow plants which will both
cycle air with us humans _and_ provide carbohydrates

