LCROSS Impact Finds Water on the Moon
The visible camera image showing the ejecta plume at about 20 seconds after impact. Credit: NASA
(PhysOrg.com) — The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike.
NASA today opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon’s south pole.
The impact created by the LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket created a two-part plume of material from the bottom of the crater. The first part was a high angle plume of vapor and fine dust and the second a lower angle ejecta curtain of heavier material. This material has not seen sunlight in billions of years.
“We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding,” said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Scientists have long speculated about the source of vast quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected.
Permanently shadowed regions could hold a key to the history and evolution of the solar system, much as an ice core sample taken on Earth reveals ancient data. In addition, water, and other compounds represent potential resources that could sustain future lunar exploration.
Data from the down-looking near-infrared spectrometer. The red curve shows how the spectra would look for a “grey” or “colorless” warm (230 C) dust cloud. The yellow areas indicate the water absorption bands. Credit: NASA
Since the impacts, the LCROSS science team has been working almost nonstop analyzing the huge amount of data the spacecraft collected. The team concentrated on data from the satellite’s spectrometers, which provide the most definitive information about the presence of water. A spectrometer examines light emitted or absorbed by materials that helps identify their composition.”We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.”
The team took the known near infrared spectral signatures of water and other materials and compared them to the spectra collected by the LCROSS near infrared spectrometer of the impact.
“We were only able to match the spectra from LCROSS data when we inserted the spectra for water,” said Colaprete. “No other reasonable combination of other compounds that we tried matched the observations. The possibility of contamination from the Centaur also was ruled out.”
Additional confirmation came from an emission in the ultraviolet spectrum that was attributed to hydroxyl, one product from the break-up of water by sunlight. When atoms and molecules are excited, they release energy at specific wavelengths that are detected by the spectrometers. A similar process is used in neon signs. When electrified, a specific gas will produce a distinct color. The ultraviolet visible spectrometer detected hydroxyl signatures just after impact that are consistent with a water vapor cloud in sunlight.
Data from the other LCROSS instruments are being analyzed for additional clues about the state and distribution of the material at the impact site. The LCROSS science team along with colleagues are poring over the data to understand the entire impact event, from flash to crater, with the final goal being the understanding of the distribution of materials, and in particular volatiles, within the soil at the impact site.
“The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich,” said Colaprete. “Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances. The permanently shadowed regions of the moon are truly cold traps, collecting and preserving material over billions of years.”
LCROSS was launched June 18, 2009 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After separating from LRO, the LCROSS spacecraft held onto the spent Centaur upper stage rocket of the launch vehicle, executed a lunar swingby and entered into a series of long looping orbits around the Earth.
Data from the ultraviolet/visible spectrometer taken shortly after impact showing emission lines (indicated by arrows). These emission lines are diagnostic of compounds in the vapor/debris cloud. Credit: NASA
After traveling approximately 113 days and nearly 5.6 million miles (9 million km), the Centaur and LCROSS separated on final approach to the moon. Traveling a fast as a speeding bullet, the Centaur impacted the lunar surface shortly after 4:31 a.m. PDT Oct. 9 with LCROSS watching with its onboard instruments. Approximately four minutes of data was collected before the LCROSS itself impacted the lunar surface.Working closely with scientists from LRO and other observatories that viewed the impact, the LCROSS team is working to understand the full scope of the LCROSS data. LRO continues to make passes over the impact site to give the LCROSS team additional insight into the mechanics of the impact and its resulting craters.
What other secrets will the moon reveal? The analysis continues!
Provided by JPL/NASA
Wow, there’s a skull on the moon!
“The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.”
The moon IS a dry place. The water they found would be in ice or gas form, a solid most likely. Dry/Wet would be used to describe a liquid…any kind of liquid for that matter.
As far as my understanding goes the moon as no pressure, and therefore a liquid form of water couldnt even exist on it currently as far as weve currently dug down into it.
Carlos (08:05:10) :
idlex (04:57:00) :
The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.
They’re just making a big splash. And trying to flood the airwaves. It will cut no ice with Dry Moon fundies. They’re not going to water down their convictions. They can see that you’re trying to rain on their parade. And pretty soon it’ll all just be water under the bridge anyway.
Not to be a wet blanket, but I’ve always found wading through these sorts of exercises to be quite draining. On the other hand others seem to lap it up.
I wash my hands of this whole moon business 🙂
Maybe liquid water exists below the surface. Maybe the moon has caverns or is hollow and contains a secret world with life a la Jules Verne. Imagine if all the time, energy and resources that are used for war around the planet were instead used for science and exploration. Or if some of those billions of dollars used to bailout corrupt corporations had been directed towards science. Wasted opportunities.
A.Syme (05:31:29) :
<"[…] Who knows what else we will find on the moon of value, maybe gold?"
Yeah but… it'd be too expensive to ship it back to Earth.
Greg S (14:06:18) :
Carlos (08:05:10) :
idlex (04:57:00) :
The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.
They’re just making a big splash. And trying to flood the airwaves. It will cut no ice with Dry Moon fundies. They’re not going to water down their convictions. They can see that you’re trying to rain on their parade. And pretty soon it’ll all just be water under the bridge anyway.
Not to be a wet blanket, but I’ve always found wading through these sorts of exercises to be quite draining. On the other hand others seem to lap it up.
I wash my hands of this whole moon business 🙂
Would you drips dry-up with the puns already?
Landin (14:35:30) :
“Maybe liquid water exists below the surface. Maybe the moon has caverns or is hollow and contains a secret world with life a la Jules Verne. Imagine if all the time, energy and resources that are used for war around the planet were instead used for science and exploration. Or if some of those billions of dollars used to bailout corrupt corporations had been directed towards science. Wasted opportunities.”
For what? Liquid water exists below the surface of the Earth as well as above, has caverns and contains a secret world with life ala Jules Verne.
Carlos,
I hate to dampen your enthusiasm, but without a really good jingle, moon water won’t do very well economically. Just look at the moon pie.
Pity there wasn’t a real Moon River found.
Oh, nuts. I guess I’m just an incurable, hopeless skeptic. Just how the heck can a little molecule with MW = 18 “hang on” in a gravitational field that is only 1/9th that of Earth–where there is no atmospheere? Even if the water remains frozen, it still sublimes. I say the NASA guys are very likely smoking something weird and trying to assure that their funding for this expensive research is continued?
jae hits the nail right on the head. He remembers his High School physics – as NASA PR hacks often do not.
There I was, on my way to King Soopers to pick up some potatoes and juice, when I noticed the TV truck parked out in front of Chamberlin Observatory.
see http://www.denverastrosociety.org/chamberlin.html
Oh yeah, they are crashing the probe into the moon this morning.
I wonder if I could get in and watch?
The South door was locked, but the North door was open.
I was wondering if I was going to get arrested or something. But, like my Beagle Strider, sometimes the potential reward is worth the risk. He might get a piece of bacon and, well, so would I.
I peeked in the main room and there was a small group of men watching the atmosphere jiggle the image of the polar cap of the moon. At the center of the dancing image was the crater targeted by NASA in their search for water on the moon.
One of the men approached me with a very friendly grin and introduced himself. He was the President of the Denver Astronomical Society, Ron Mickle. I didn’t tell him the truth about who I was. After all, I was this little, mischievous boy of about nine sneaking in to take a peek. That wouldn’t do, so I told him I was one of the neighbors driving by and just wanted to look.
I mentioned I had read it cost $50,000 per pound to get water to the moon from the earth. They didn’t know that. Encouraged, I then rattled off a bunch of facts about the observatory. How it was financed by an early Denver real estate developer who later on went broke in the panic of 1893. How the first director of the observatory laid the foundation stone of the platform on which the scope was mounted.
Ron said it sounded like I had read the book.
I asked the quiet man with the beard who he was. It was the director of the observatory. He was also the author of the definitive history of the observatory, the book upon which I had based my comments.
I was invited to take a peek through the telescope before they shut things down.
What a thrill. Watching the moon just as the dawn was painting the fall dappled trees with its crimson kiss.
To cap everything off, meeting the author of Denver’s Great Telescope.
I have only one problem: How do I explain to my granddaughter Isabel why she wasn’t with when all this happened?
Isn’t there a better way to collect the required data that doesn’t involve shooting the moon with a satellite?