Moon is very wet

[Lazar]

From MSNBC:

Hopes, dreams and practical plans to colonize or otherwise exploit the moon as a source of minerals or a launch pad to the cosmos got a boost today with NASA's announcement of significant water ice at the lunar south pole.

The LCROSS probe discovered the equivalent of a dozen 2-gallon buckets of water in the form of ice, in a crater at the lunar south pole. Scientists figure there's more where that came from.

...

The water discovery firms up previous detections of the signature of water molecules by three independent spacecraft. But the new finding makes more of a splash in that the detections come from both infrared and ultraviolet measurements, and a lot more of it was detected than scientists had expected.

"It is a big 'wow,'" said Jack Burns of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and director of the Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research.

...

Having that store of water on the moon could be a boon to possible future lunar camps. In addition to a source of drinking water, lunar water ice could be broken into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen atoms, ultimately to be used in rocket fuel. That would mean spacecraft ferrying future colonists to the moon would not have to take fuel for the return trip, or the fuel could be used to launch trips beyond the moon. And water could be used as a shield from cosmic radiation.

"We now can say ... that the possibility of living off the land has just gone up a notch," said Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission, referring to past detections of water on the moon.

[Mark]

Bet you guys anything that withing ten years, they'll be marketing bottled "Moon Water" at some insane price.

[Nutso]

Bet you guys anything that withing ten years, they'll be marketing bottled "Moon Water" at some insane price.

I might buy it. I can't wait for Mars Water.

[Lt. Staplic]

Bet you guys anything that withing ten years, they'll be marketing bottled "Moon Water" at some insane price.

Unfortunately, very true.

How much water is there....I don't see there being enough to support long-range colonization and being able to provide rocket fuel.

[Avatar2312]

The impact site alone (a region about 20 to 30 meters in Diameter and about 10 to 15 meters deep) is reported to contain about 20+ gallons or 90 litres of water in frozen form. The region in permanent shadows in Cabeus is about 20,000 soccer fields large. Do your math (although not every spot may contain water).

Aditionally as th M3-mission reported there is also water chemically bound to the moondust on the surface (about 1 litre per ton)

[Mikey]

It's a hell of a find, no doubt, but there's nothing here to indicate - or even suggest - that the disposition of water is anything near uniform across the moon.

[Avatar2312]

Sure, but no one said something about uniform.

Water in form of ice can only survive in eternal shadows on the moon, meaning only in polar craters, or chemically bound to other substances like dust, where it is also protected from the extreme temperatures.

But to find water in one polar crater means that either the aim was SO ASTRONOMICAL LUCKY, that you could not believe it (if it is only present at this spot), or that water is somewhat present in "abundance" in many of the polar craters. It is not unlikely if you take into account, that it is compromised of 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen. The first being an element 2/3 our universe is made of and the latter, which is also not as rare among the elements if you rule out H and He.

[Sionnach Glic]

This is pretty damn good to hear.

[Sonic Glitch]

I managed to work this in to a Model U.N Resolution this weekend. I was at a College-Level Model U.N. Conference hosted by U Penn this weekend, representing Uzbekistan in the SPECPOL (Special Political and De-Colonization Committee) Committee. Our two issues for the weekend were "Water" and "Preventing 21st Century Colonialism via NGO's*" or something like that. The topic we ended up discussing was the water crisis and while we were working on the serious resolutions and such, my teammates/roommates and I were reading about the moon water on the news and decided we needed to work it into a resolution, so we wrote up a gag-resolution that we unfortunately did not have time to present but here it is, just for you guys:

*NGO = Non-Government Organization -- charities, and the like. Red Cross, Salvation Army i believe, etc etc

Committee:SPECPOL
Topic: Operation Moon Water

Sponsors: Uzbekistan*, United Arab Emirates*, Azerbaijan
Signatories: Tajikistan (i think)

Recalling the existence of the moon.

Recognizing, the significance of the recent LCROSS findings,

Suggests, the developed, imperialist nations begin harvesting of moon water for it's potential magical properties

Further Suggests, that the Magical Moon Water be used to replenish the Aral Sea in an effort to help rejuvenate Uzbekistan's abysmal agriculture status

Recommends, that excess Magical Moon Water^tm be shared amongst developing nations unable to access their own water supplies

Encourages, the search for extraterrestrial water on other bodies of the solar system such as Jupiter's moon Titan

Further Encourages, that any polar melt-water be transported to the moon to be refrozen and returned to the Polar Ice Caps on Earth.

There was then a "friendly amendment" which said something along the lines of "Recognizing the grace and power of Polar Bears on the dark side of la Luna, recommends the usage of Polar Bears as harvesters of the moon water, or coats (living coats. Animal cruelty is wrong kids.)"

Note, this is to the best of my ability to recall. Unfortunately i submitted the only copy to the Chair.

*Represented by Kutztown University

[Mikey]

Sure, but no one said something about uniform.

Water in form of ice can only survive in eternal shadows on the moon, meaning only in polar craters, or chemically bound to other substances like dust, where it is also protected from the extreme temperatures.

But to find water in one polar crater means that either the aim was SO ASTRONOMICAL LUCKY, that you could not believe it (if it is only present at this spot), or that water is somewhat present in "abundance" in many of the polar craters. It is not unlikely if you take into account, that it is compromised of 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen. The first being an element 2/3 our universe is made of and the latter, which is also not as rare among the elements if you rule out H and He.

Well, it wasn't luck at all - that crater was chosen for a reason. And I agree that chances are there's water elsewhere if they found it here. I was simply just saying that you couldn't take the calculated density from this find and apply it across the dark side in order to estimate the total amount of ice and bound water up there.

[Avatar2312]

Since we have just one figure, I stick to it as the average value until further analasys tells otherwise.

Äh... The dark side... you mean the dark sider of the moon or regions in eternal shadows?

[Sonic Glitch]

Since we have just one figure, I stick to it as the average value until further analasys tells otherwise.

Äh... The dark side... you mean the dark sider of the moon or regions in eternal shadows?

Knowing him, he most likely means this:

[Mikey]

Actually, I meant the Dark Side of the Force...

[Aaron]

*snicker* The Moon is Wet! We must visit it's Dark Star! *snicker*

Anyways, here's hoping this will actually kick space travel into a higher gear then we're in now.

[Mikey]

*snicker* The Moon is Wet! We must visit it's Dark Star! *snicker*

You were working on that one for a while, huh? Nothing about "enough water to support a starfish" or anything?