We’ve known that the Moon definitively contains water ice since late last year when NASA crashed a probe into the south pole and measured the resulting plume of debris. This evening NASA unveiled findings that measured the presence of water ice on the north pole, and we learned that ice is abundant there to the tune of at least 600 million tons:
“The emerging picture from the multiple measurements and resulting data of the instruments on lunar missions indicates that water creation, migration, deposition and retention are occurring on the moon,” said Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the Mini-SAR experiment at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston. “The new discoveries show the moon is an even more interesting and attractive scientific, exploration and operational destination than people had previously thought.”
During the past year, the Mini-SAR mapped the moon’s permanently-shadowed polar craters that aren’t visible from Earth. The radar uses the polarization properties of reflected radio waves to characterize surface properties. Results from the mapping showed deposits having radar characteristics similar to ice.
“After analyzing the data, our science team determined a strong indication of water ice, a finding which will give future missions a new target to further explore and exploit,” said Jason Crusan, program executive for the Mini-RF Program for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate in Washington.
The presence of abundant water ice on the Moon makes it all the more feasible for humans to set up a long-term presence there, enabling potential colonists to create oxygen and hydrogen, as well enabling them to avoid having to ship water for basic human needs, i.e. drinking and washing, from Earth.