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Surprising Science

Water Found on Moon

“The moon is pockmarked with cold, wet oases that could contain enough water ice to be useful to manned missions.” A recent NASA mission found evidence of life’s cornerstone.
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“A year after NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) smashed into the surface of the moon, astronomers have confirmed that lunar craters can be rich reservoirs of water ice, plus a pharmacopoeia of other surprising substances. On Oct. 9, 2009, the LCROSS mission sent a spent Centaur rocket crashing into Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole, a spot previous observations had shown to be loaded with hydrogen. A second spacecraft flew through the cloud of debris kicked up by the explosion to search for signs of water and other ingredients of lunar soil. And water appeared in buckets.”

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