News from the final frontier:
According to the US Space Agency, a significant amount of frozen water has been found on the moon, proving the $79 million LCROSS mission successful. Hoorah! Chalk one up for team science…
Here’s How LCROSS Worked:
NASA sent an unmanned craft smashing into the lunar surface. It crashed into the Cabeus crater, located near the lunar southern pole; flying into the moon’s floor at a speed of 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) per hour. Then they followed the rocket four minutes later with a spacecraft carrying cameras to record the impact. The collision of the first rocket to the lunar surface created an impact which sent a huge cloud of material coming up from the bottom of the crater, which had not seen the light of the sun for billions of years. Inside the 30 meter crater was found about a dozen, two-gallon buckets of H2O.
What Does It All Mean?
This discovery is revolutionary. Absolutely earth shattering, or moon shattering – if you will; for previously scientists had theorized that outside of the small possibility of a little bit of ice at the bottom of craters, the moon was completely dry. I am sure all of these scientists are pleased to be proved wrong. Apparently, one possible source for the water could have come from a comet. Still 25 gallons of H20 molecules is pretty darn impressive!
Washington Washington, This is NASA, Do You Read Me? Over:
The only human beings to ever step foot on the moon were all Americans, and the last was in 1972. While NASA plans to put US astronauts back on the moon by 2020 to establish “manned lunar bases for further exploration to Mars,” a project entitled Constellation; unfortunately the chances are becoming more and more doubtful, due to Washington’s lack of passion.
According to the President of the country, NASA’s budget is too small to pay for Constellation’s Orion capsule, or the Ares I and Ares V launchers which are needed in order to put the craft in orbit – this is even more unfortunate given the fact that the Obama administration prides themselves in actually increasing funding for NASA. Now with the new discovery, which makes possible the dream of actually colonizing the moon, we will find out just how precious that extra $3 billion is to Mr. Obama.
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