Moon is a place that has been said to be a very dry and cold place since the first time we started to glance towards it. Pictures from it has show a fine layer of dust all over the surface and most people therefore took it for granted that the entire planet was a dried out and vast place. This understanding has stood for many years but now it seem that this is to be rocked to a completely new image of how our neighbor in the sky is built.

Recent findings by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter show that there exist polar ice on the moon. The amount of ice found is still very small so that we will not find any lakes or seas any time soon. Instead the chunks was found in a few permanently shadowy places never before explored. Still, the existence of water will tell us that there actually exist water outside of planet earth, and not only in asteroids and such. A source of water on the moon will also be of great value for a future base.

Bombing the moon is how the method has been called in media and it was by this that scientist could get data on particles thrown from the surface which made it possible to find the water. And no it was not really a bombing of the moon. Instead it was two satellites which was launched with a direct collision-course against the moon and when they crashed down on the surface it was possible to analyze the clouds which rose form the collision and distinguish what they did contain.

Makes one wonder how long we actually is from setting up a permanent base on our closest neighbour. As of now we have a source of water, we have minerals which is said to contain oxygen and we also have a way of creating a material similar to concrete with which we can build simple constructions as buildings or roads.

Earth to moon-base, pass the salt please.

Resources:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090923-moon-water-discovery.html