Moon Water News Stories

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into orbit in 1990. It has been in space over 18 years.

Did the Hubble take the lunar water measurement? If yes, where is the water data. If not, why?

NASA’s Science Mission Division shall support the Return to the Moon mission. The Hubble’s water measurement shall be the one.

Let’s see the high resolution lunar water map from Hubble soon.

I bet Larry Taylor has a smile a mile wide today.

Great (unfathomably stupendously so) for ISRU, but do we need to start discussing possible lunar biology?

This is great news......for the CHINESE, unfortunately.

I thought the moon was made of cheese

I think Lunar biology is all too possible. The Moon is regularly struck by objects which are themselves ejecta from impacts across the inner solar system, and although very few could possibly contain viable biological material there is obviously the chance that something might survive in dormant form, secured from the external environment by a few metres of regolith. Our planet is pulsating with life, and shows signs of being highly infective.

One might imagine that limiting factors might include the rate of impacts, the time that regolith 'gardening' might take to remove any protective layers, and the effects of OH radical chemistry on life. Future Lunar missions might find viable spores, or merely fossils, but only if some form of suitable instrumentation is carried there.

Speaking of fossils, imagine if the icy areas which appear to be in the shadowed polar craters have any mechanism similar to the 'blue ice' conveyor belt zones of Antarctica, capable of preferentially sorting samples. There might be not only fossils from Earth, but also Mars - and maybe even from Venus, just waiting to be found.

Unless the bugs have eaten them all first!

Bob Shaw

I think science historians will look at the story of lunar water as a classic example of how preconceived ideas interfered with what the data was actually showing. One wonders what else we would know about lunar resources today if NASA has spent a tenth on lunar exploration that it has spent on Mars in the last twenty years.

Again, isnt it great that the NASA robotic precursor program got scaled to nothing after LRO and there is no lander planned to go check this out in situ ?

Specifically, how RLEP2 lander/rover got cancelled to cover for Ares-1 and Orion overruns by dr. Griffin.

I wonder if underestimating the extent of water early-on has had a negative effect on Lunar exploration similar to the effect that the early unluckily-placed Mariner-IV pictures of a dead, cratered Mars had on Martian exploration.
If you understand what I am getting at. :-)

This conversation reminds me of the Apollo astronauts saying their space suites smelled like rotten eggs after walking on the lunar surface.. To find fossilized bio matter be it a single celled organism or not.. WOW I can't even describe what that would some people be it mars or the moon.

I don't know about y'all; but I am as happy as a pig in slop right now! This IS FANTASTIC news! I know the President has to formalize his plan(s) for NASA and specifically manned space flight but this can only (hopefully) help our cause of a vibrant, vigorous and forward thinking program! He has called for ways to excite the youth of America, to develop new technologies, to invigorate the economy.
Well a robust and far reaching space program will go a long ways towards accomplishing all those goals and many more. This will necessitate both the robotic & manned sides of NASA to work together, to seek out new ways of thinking and doing things. This will also open up avenues for the private sector to become more involved, not just the typical "Aerospace" contractors; but companies like Caterpillar or John Deere to make equipment that will enable the crews on the Moon to build the infrastructure needed.
The computer & communications companies will get involved too, once crews set up shop on the Moon they'll need ways to convey/communicate with the folks back "home" and vice versa.
The confirmation of significant quantities of water on the Moon also creates the opportunity to pursue things such as fuel depots in Lunar orbit or high Earth orbit to help with missions to the L1-5 points or to assist with reboost or altering orbital inclinations for satellites. The possibilties are in fact limitless!!

To those who have blazed the trail into space, we salute you; more importantly, we honor your acheivements by continuing the journey!

I dont suppose that anyone has noted the irony that all of this water being found on the moon and Mars was detected by remote satellite sensors? There is no requirement to walk around on the surface or dig up the ground to discover water. Remote observing works just fine. Now lets go find some water on an exoplanet (from afar of course!)

"There is no requirement to walk around on the surface or dig up the ground to discover water."

Nope, but the water is worthless if we don't plan to do something with it...

They didn't smell rotten eggs, they smelled spent black powder. A little like Hell, fire and brimstone.

Can someone please provide a link to the Science paper of this? I found a news story at http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/924/1 but do not see any report in the 25 Sept. issue of Science.

Just found the articles linked to under the "Science Express" heading of http://www.sciencemag.org/magazine.dtl . A subscription may be required to view them entirely.