“Come on, Sarah. We've an appointment in London and we're already 30,000 years late”. 4th Doctor

NASA’s LCROSS mission discoveries water on the moon.

The LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket impacted the moon in a permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon’s south pole, creating a two-part plume of material from the bottom of the crater.  The first part was a high angle plume of vapor and fine dust and the second a lower angle ejecta curtain of heavier material. This material has not seen sunlight in billions of years.

“We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding,” said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

After a journey of approx. 113 days and nearly 5.6 million miles (9 million km), Centaur and LCROSS separated on thier final approach to the moon. Traveling as fast as a speeding bullet, Centaur impacted the lunar surface shortly after 11:31 a.m. GMT 09/10/2009 with LCROSS watching with its onboard instruments. Approximately four minutes later LCROSS itself impacted the lunar surface.

These permanently shadowed regions could hold a key to the history and evolution of the solar system. In addition, water, and other compounds represent potential resources that could sustain future lunar exploration.

Source www.nasa.gov 

For more on this story go to: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/prelim_water_results.html