There is Water on the Moon

June 18^th, 2009 saw the launching of the spacecraft, LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite) in search for water on the moon. On October 9, 2009, LCROSS bombed the moon by launching a 2.5 ton empty rocket motor into a crater. A plume of water and material came up from the crater which was captured by LCROSS for analysis. On November 13, 2009, NASA confirmed that there was indeed water on the moon.

Estimates of the amount of water collected on the moon are between 24-26 gallons of water. NASA called that "significant amounts." It is NASA's hope that if there is water on the moon, a lunar station could be set up on the moon. The water could be broken apart as oxygen and hydrogen, both vital for rocket fuel. It could give astronauts oxygen to breathe.

But what NASA is looking at now is the source of the water on the moon. Was this just a one in a million shot never to be duplicated? Is water on the moon a result of a comet crashing into the moon, depositing water and LCROSS just happened to crash in that exact spot? Water on the moon could be from polar ice traps formed billions of years ago. Another theory of water on the moon is solar winds or even the Earth itself had some role in putting water on the moon.

The LCROSS spacecraft has a two part mission. The first part of the mission was to find and collect water from the moon. The cost of that is estimated at $79 million. Then LCROSS has a possible three year science mission. NASA estimates the total project's cost at $500 million. Do you think it was worth it to find water on the moon?

How much would you spend for a bottle of water from the moon? How about $50,000? That is what it costs to launch anything per pound to the moon. So water on the moon is more valuable than finding gold. But what about the state of affairs on earth? Though I do not take part in the government's affairs, my initial reaction was "Wow!" For $79 million, 1,975 people could be employed for one year for $40,000 each. $500 million could keep these people employed for over six years. Do you think that it's worth spending $79 million to find 24 gallons of water?

Sources:

http://news.discovery.com/space/moon-water-lcross-crater.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/11/13/water.moon.nasa/index.html

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/nov/HQ_09-265_LCROSS_Confirms_Water.html

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html

http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/360020main_LRO_LCROSS_presskit2.pdf