Water on the Moon may boost Nasa into 21st-century space race

The timing could not have been better. Struggling to overcome chronic underfunding, technical problems and a lack of political commitment, and with public interest waning, Nasa’s plans for sending astronauts back to the Moon seemed at risk of being frozen. News that water may be lurking in the lunar soil could prompt a thaw.

Only last month a board appointed by President Obama to review Nasa’s manned space exploration programme concluded that its goals — which include having people on the lunar surface again by 2020, ready to start the process of establishing the first off-Earth colony — were unrealistic without an extra $3 billion (£1.86 billion) a year from the Government.