BREAKING: Water Ice Confirmed on Surface of Moon
Surface ice at the moon's south pole (left) and north pole (right). Image Credit: NASA
That's right - water ice has been confirmed on the lunar surface. The image above shows the distribution of water ice (blue) and the gray scale represents surface temperature, with darker gray representing colder areas. The surface ice was detected by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper which was one of two instruments contributed to India's Chandrayyan-1 spacecraft.
The ice discovered lies in the shadows of craters near the moon's poles, where light never reaches and thus temperatures can stay extremely cold, keeping the ice intact.
Zetus Lapetus! Can we pack our moon bags yet?
According to NASA officials in a statement released on August 20:
"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,"
We're as eager as anyone to return to the moon and eventually build a lunar colony. It would make future mission launches easier, and the views are unparalleled.
However as with any big discovery, it will likely take YEARS before we have the proper funding and public support to make any significant strides (#BeLouder) - but this is an extremely exciting day for astrophiles nonetheless.
What Earth luxuries would you pack for your trip to the moon?
What we would see every day if we could establish a base on the moon, thanks to the confirmation of water ice at the north and south poles. Image Credit: NASA / Apollo 8
