water found on the moon by an Indian exploration.
Quote:
Water found on moon could lead to lunar colonies | News | News.com.au
THE discovery of water by a lunar mission has led to greater hope of humans colonising the moon.
India's first lunar mission has found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface, The Times newspaper said.
Data from the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft also suggested water was still being formed on the moon, the British newspaper said.
"It's very satisfying," the newspaper quoted Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission's project director at the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore, as saying.
The discovery has opened the door for possible moon bases being established, with astronauts taking advantage of the water on the surface.
After further analysis is done, the next task for scientists will be to figure out how to exploit the water to move towards an international lunar base, director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group Bernard Foing told MSNBC.
The discovery is also expected to significantly boost India's race to catch up with other nation's space exploration efforts.
“This will create a considerable stir. It was wholly unexpected,” said one scientist also involved in the mission.
“People thought that Chandrayaan was just lagging behind the rest but the science that’s coming out, it’s going to be agenda-setting.”
The discovery has also made scientists excited about future moon missions.
"Within the context of lunar science, this is a major discovery," planetary scientist Paul G. Lucey, a planetary scientist told the LA Times.
"There was zero accepted evidence that there was any water at the lunar surface, (but) now it is shown to be easily detectable, though by extremely sensitive methods.
"As a lunar scientist, when I read about this I was completely blown away."
The Times said the breakthrough would be announced by the US National Aeronautic Space Agency later today.
NASA's website says it will hold a media briefing to "reveal new scientific findings about the moon" from data collected during national and international space missions".
The unmanned Indian craft was equipped with NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper.
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what does this mean for humans? can we really utilise this water for our benefit? will the moon become our junkyard? or will it become our getaway?
who owns the water on the moon? since the americans planted their flag, does the US own the moon?
i can imagine this discovery opening up many legal, scientific and moral questions that not many really think about on a daily basis. and yes, i meant the order in which i put those.
the question that remains is, how much water is a 'large quantity'?