India’s lunar mission finds evidence of water on the Moon

[Ras Asad]

India’s lunar mission finds evidence of water on the Moon



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article6846639.ece

Dreams of establishing a manned Moon base could become reality within two decades after India’s first lunar mission found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface.



Data from Chandrayaan-1 also suggests that water is still being formed on the Moon. Scientists said the breakthrough — to be announced by Nasa at a press conference today — would change the face of lunar exploration.
The discovery is a significant boost for India in its space race against China. Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission’s project director at the Indian Space Research Organisation in Bangalore, said: “It’s very satisfying.”



The search for water was one of the mission’s main objectives, but it was a surprise nonetheless, scientists said.The unmanned craft was equipped with Nasa’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper, designed specifically to search for water by picking up the electromagnetic radiation emitted by minerals. The M3 also made the unexpected discovery that water may still be forming on the surface of the Moon, according to scientists familiar with the mission.




“It’s very satisfying,” said Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, the project director of Chandrayaan-1 at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bangalore. “This was one of the main objectives of Chandrayaan-1, to find evidence of water on the Moon,” he told The Times.



Dr Annadurai would not provide any further details before a news conference at Nasa today from Dr Carle Pieters, a planetary geologist of Brown University who oversaw the M3.



Dr Pieters has not spoken about her results so far and was not available for comment last night, according to colleagues at Brown University. But her results are expected to cause a sensation, and to set the agenda for lunar exploration in the next decade.


They will also provide a significant boost for India as it tries to catch up with China in what many see as a 21st-century space race. “This will create a considerable stir. It was wholly unexpected,” said one scientist also involved in Chandrayaan-1. “People thought that Chandrayaan was just lagging behind the rest but the science that’s coming out, it’s going to be agenda-setting.”



Scientists have long hoped that astronauts could be based on the Moon and use water found there to drink, extract oxygen to breathe and use hydrogen as fuel.



Several studies havesuggested that there could be ice in the craters around the Moon’s poles, but scientists have been unable to confirm the suspicions.



The M3, an imaging spectrometer, was designed to search for water by detecting the electromagnetic radiation given off by different minerals on and just below the surface of the Moon. Unlike previous lunar spectrometers, it was sensitive enough to detect the presence of small amounts of water.



M3 was one of two Nasa instruments among 11 pieces of equipment from around the world on Chandrayaan-1, which was launched into orbit around the Moon in October last year. ISRO lost control of Chandrayaan-1 last month, and aborted the mission ahead of schedule, but not before M3 and the other instruments had beamed data back to Earth.



Another lunar scientist familiar with the findings said: “This is the most exciting breakthrough in at least a decade. And it will probably change the face of lunar exploration for the next decade.”



Scientists are eagerly awaiting the results of two American unmanned lunar missions, which were both launched in June, that could also prove the existence of water on the Moon.



Early results from Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) recorded temperatures as low as -238C (minus 396.4F) in polar craters on the Moon, according to the journal Nature. That makes them the coldest recorded spots in the solar system, even colder than the surface of Pluto, and could mean that ice has been trapped for billions of years, the journal said. The LRO has also detected an abundance of hydrogen, thought to be a key indicator of ice, at the poles.



The other Nasa mission, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), is due to crash a probe into a polar crater on October 9 in the hope of sending up a plume of ice that can be examined by telescope.


“We are on the verge of a renaissance in our thinking about the poles of the Moon, including how water ice gets there,” Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for LCROSS, said in Nature.

and it is funny....
the same day, shortly after this was announced....

NASA sends emails out saying "water molecules found on the moon"

here is that awesome story...
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/24sep_moonwater.htm?list1328386

molecules? stfu.



pretty sure ive been telling people this for years, and get called nothing but a crazy lunatic for it. lol
but ive no clue what im talking about, just spewing bs out my arse for kicks and blindly following "CT shit". .

[hallucinogeneti]

it's official, water is on the moon. All the resources confirm it.

Not sure if it means anything

[apokalypse]

I heard (can't recall where) about this earlier today - somehow the NASA article leaked. Didn't hear that India put out their report first though!

In a conspiracy theory tone though, maybe India is spying on NASA and has a mole in there, and when they heard about this article they decided to one-up NASA and beat them to the punch!

[alicesamanita]

What? We went to the moon? The moon isnt cheese? Water?! Oh my!!!
Hahahahaha!
Thats pretty cool--i didnt hear about that news story!

[wildburr]

I find it quite exciting that they have finally confirmed the presence of H2O on the moon, but how much? could we really build a station there?

[alicesamanita]

Oh yeah! They were supposed to have a station there by 2012.

[wildburr]

Originally Posted by alicesamanita

Oh yeah! They were supposed to have a station there by 2012.

We were also supposed to have flying cars by now too

[alicesamanita]

Originally Posted by wildburr

We were also supposed to have flying cars by now too

hahahaha!

[Hippie3]

Originally Posted by alicesamanita

Oh yeah! They were supposed to have a station there by 2012.

not that i'm aware of-
where'd you hear that ??

[Hippie3]

The unmanned craft was equipped with Nasa’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper, designed specifically to search for water by picking up the electromagnetic radiation emitted by minerals

NASA deserves much of the credit for this 'discovery'.

[prism]

Makes one wonder if life might exist on the moon in some extremeophile form... That would be fuckin wild...

[mycabis]

Originally Posted by prism

Makes one wonder if life might exist on the moon in some extremeophile form... That would be fuckin wild...

seems if theres water... it may be possible... there has to be other life form.....somewhere... even if its micro organisms....

in the picture of the moon i cant help but ask does anyone else see tint of green?

[copelandiaKidd]

Scrap it, It looks like trich! hehe

[Ras Asad]

Originally Posted by mycabis

in the picture of the moon i cant help but ask does anyone else see tint of green?

yes.

the natural color of the moon has varying shades of greens, blues, purples, pinks, greys, etc.

even though we cannot see them as they are, from Earths surface.
(though we can get cameras to pick up on the from the surface.)

there is another thread here showing lots of color images of Luna, Ill try to find it for you.

[dice]

There launching a rocket into the moon 2moro morn at like 730am eastern
So they will know 2moro just how much water is up there

[Ras Asad]

Here is that thread...
http://forums.mycotopia.net/lifestyl...en-before.html (Map-a-Planet, Up Close and Personal~ and a Moon like youve never seen before!)

and here is a recent image,
taken from Earth by an amateur astronomer,
using an 8" newtonian scope and a canon rebel Xt camera...
you can clearly see the different color variations...

Taken with an 8" F6 newtonian

Camera: Canon Rebel Xt @ prime focus

Processing - brightness and contrast adjust
Neat image demo noise removal
Colours are not artificial (RGB)

Ive got all the exif data as well,
if anyone feels the need to see it. lol