Lunar probes in search of icewater

Artist's rendering courtesy of NASA

Lunar mission to look for water

Pictured above we see a sketch of the LCROSS --- Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite project, in which the men and women of NASA will be prospecting for water on the moon.

Back in 1999 a scan of craters in the lunar polar regions by the Lunar Prospector probe turned up what looked like the signature of hydrogen. So does that mean there is frozen water on the moon?

That hypothesis is going to be tested late this year, when the LCROSS (the larger, hexagonal object shown above) launches the white Centaur upper stage rocket. The Centaur will smash into an area of a crater that's always covered in shadow kicking up a huge cloud of dust and debris. When the cloud rises above the crater's rim and into the sun's rays, any ice particles in it will melt. Meanwhile, the LCROSS will be following four minutes behind the Centaur and will fly through the cloud of dust that's kicked up. Using various cameras, spectrometers and a radiometer, LCROSS ought to be able to verify or rule out the presence of water in the cloud.

Water in the shaded areas of the moon? If it's there, then it could be a major factor affecting space exploration. (And yes, for you science fiction buffs out there, it might even bring that day when a stern judge sentences particularly incorrigible offenders to exile on Lunar Colony #4 much closer to reality.)

The presence or absence of water in the skies over Panama also becomes a factor here. If we are overcast during the experiment, then we'll have to watch it all on TV. However, if the experiment takes place on a night with clear skies over Panama then the cloud of dust will be visible to those amateur astronomers in this country who have 10-inch or larger telescopes.

In the larger scheme of things, rocks will always be more common than water on the moon. Back in the days of the dictatorship Panama once received some moon rocks as a gift from NASA, but these public assets have long since disappeared without a trace, either misplaced or incorporated into somebody's private collection. We probably won't be getting a flask of moon water anytime soon.