World

NASA 'bomb' moon in search for water

by mudricky | October 9, 2009 at 04:39 am

1644 views | 34 Recommendations | 7 comments

NASA have crashed a spacecraft into the South Pole part of the moon in an attempt to throw up water/ice into the air.

Another unmanned craft was sent to monitor the dust that went sent up after the crash.

The $79m (£49m; 53m euro) mission is called LCROSS (the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite).

There are two main components: the large Centaur rocket upper stage and a smaller "shepherding spacecraft".

The rocket stage hit the Moon at 1231 BST (0731 EDT), travelling at roughly twice the speed of a bullet.

The shepherding spacecraft - designed to look for signs of water in the plume - struck the surface four minutes later.

The identification of water-ice in the impact plume would be a major discovery, scientists say.

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

jefhow22

at 05:01 on October 9th, 2009

mudricky...at least it was a successful crash...

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 06:05 on October 9th, 2009

If there isn.t water, we can.t grow veggies:)

mudricky

at 06:09 on October 9th, 2009

that sucks... no apple trees. I couldn't live without an apple a day.

mudricky

at 21:54 on October 10th, 2009

Your spot on with that.

master_jim2008

at 10:35 on October 9th, 2009

I don't think we have the right to spend that much money on water exploration on the moon either. Not to mention the fact that such an impact could have devastating effects on the moon's gravitational pull on the earth. If we see demonstrable tide shifts on earth any time soon, it'll be because of that rocket shot into the moon.