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Treasure Hunting on the Moon: LRO and the Search for Water
In 1998 NASA's Lunar Prospector mission used the presence of hydrogen as a sign of potential ice deposits. As you can see in this image, Prospector data showed significantly more hydrogen at the south pole of the moon. LRO will build on this data and narrow down the regions that may contain water ice deposits. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Scientific Visualization Studio A bottle of one of the most expensive brands of water costs $40, and is presented in a frosted glass container decorated with crystal. On the moon, a bottle of water would run about $50,000, and forget about that heavy crystal glass. That's because it costs around $50,000 per pound to launch anything to the moon. Discovering water on the moon would be like finding a gold mine.
In fact, scientists have discovered evidence for water or hydrogen, a component of water, in special places on the moon. Since the moon is not tilted much from its rotation axis, the depths of certain craters in the lunar poles may not have seen the sun for billions of years. The long night over these areas, called Permanently Shaded Regions (PSRs), will have made them very cold, and able to trap hydrogen or water molecules as ice.
However, with almost no atmosphere, most of the moon is drier than the driest terrestrial desert. How could water get on the moon in the first place?
> Read more
In 1998 NASA's Lunar Prospector mission used the presence of hydrogen as a sign of potential ice deposits. As you can see in this image, Prospector data showed significantly more hydrogen at the south pole of the moon. LRO will build on this data and narrow down the regions that may contain water ice deposits. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Scientific Visualization Studio A bottle of one of the most expensive brands of water costs $40, and is presented in a frosted glass container decorated with crystal. On the moon, a bottle of water would run about $50,000, and forget about that heavy crystal glass. That's because it costs around $50,000 per pound to launch anything to the moon. Discovering water on the moon would be like finding a gold mine.In fact, scientists have discovered evidence for water or hydrogen, a component of water, in special places on the moon. Since the moon is not tilted much from its rotation axis, the depths of certain craters in the lunar poles may not have seen the sun for billions of years. The long night over these areas, called Permanently Shaded Regions (PSRs), will have made them very cold, and able to trap hydrogen or water molecules as ice.
However, with almost no atmosphere, most of the moon is drier than the driest terrestrial desert. How could water get on the moon in the first place?
> Read more
News and Features
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LRO and the Search for Water
In fact, scientists have discovered evidence for water or hydrogen, a component of water, in special places on the moon.
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Robot Scout: Fly Me (Safely) to the Moon
Reliable power and potential lunar resources make the lunar poles attractive enough to attempt hairy landings on a crater rim. It's up to LRO to make those landings as safe as possible.
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NASA Tests Moon Imaging Spacecraft at Goddard
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has completed the first round of environmental testing at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
 "Artist concept of lunar crater with safe landing sites highlighted")
 "Photo of LRO")
