Water found in the Moon
The discovery came after the impact of two exploration probes sent by NASA. For researchers, this is a step “extraordinary” in the exploration of the satellite.
NASA confirmed this afternoon the discovery of a “significant” amount of frozen water in a crater on the Moon, which opens new perspectives for the exploration of satellite and terrestrial solar system.
“We found water, not just a little, but a significant amount,” he said in a press conference Anthony Colaprete, chief scientist of the mission LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite), which had a cost of 79,000 million was yy responsible for the finding.
In a crater “from 20 to 30 meters, find the equivalent of at least a dozen cans of 7.5 liters each,” he added, noting that these are the first results. Another team member, Gregory Deloy, University of California (west), called the finding “extraordinary” and “greater”. “It’s exciting, it shows a new image of the moon,” he added.
The information was discovered after the impact of two NASA spacecraft sent to smash into the lunar surface last month, in a dramatic experiment in search of water on the Earth satellite.
A probe crashed into the Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole, about 9,000 kilometers per hour, followed four minutes later by another spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact.
The impact sent a huge cloud of material up from the depths of a crater that he sees no daylight from trillions of years ago. “Multiple lines of evidence show that water was present both at the top of the column of smoke as the rear curtain of the LCROSS Centaur impact,” said Colaprete.
Previously, scientists had theorized that, except the possibility that there is ice on the bottom of craters, the moon was totally dry. “We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor, and by extension, the solar system,” said Michael Wargo, chief of the basis of NASA’s lunar science in Washington.
“In addition to water found in Caebus, there is evidence of the existence of other substances. The dark regions of the moon are really cold traps, which have preserved material for trillions of years.
Only 12 men, all Americans, walked on the moon, and the last to fall was in 1972, at the end of the Apollo missions. But the ambitious plans for returning astronauts to the moon U.S. in 2020 and establishing bases for further human exploration of Mars under the Constellation project, are in doubt.
The NASA budget is currently very low to finance the Project Constellation Orion capsule, a more advanced and spacious version of the Apollo lunar module, as well as the launchers Ares I and Ares V needed to put the spacecraft in orbit.
A key panel reviewing the project appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama argues that the current budget is not enough to finance a return mission to the moon before 2020.
