Water on the Moon?!

Space is truly the final frontier. The Earth has been discovered and explored and mapped almost completely, but space remains a mystery. Every year new discoveries are made and new theories are tested. A few lingering questions have yet to be answered. Is there other life out there? Could the moon or Mars support humans? Due to a new discovery by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), one of these questions may be on its way to being answered.

The Chandrayaan-1 is a craft that was launched by the IRSO in 2008 in hopes of learning more about the moon. Attached to this probe was NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper or M3. This piece of equipment discovered something that has many scientists in a stir. The M3 found water on the moon. Now, this isn’t normal, everyday, let’s go swimming water, this is lunar water ice. While the M3 was mapping the moon for minerals, it found many large deposits that gave spectrographic signatures of water. However, there is of course some doubt. Water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen as many people know. There is another molecule called hydroxyl that is one part hydrogen and one part oxygen. Unfortunately, hydroxyl and water give off almost identical spectrographic signatures. There was also a discovery of frozen water just below the surface of Mars. Scientists knew about the ice cap of Mars but this new discovery may well lead to more missions to Mars and definitely more experiments of the surface.

When I first saw this head line I thought that it wasn’t too interesting. Then I started reading the different articles online about it and saw a picture of how much water really is on the moon and Mars and realized that this is a big deal. People have been wondering for ages if the moon could support human life. Now that there may be water there, it is definitely a stronger possibility.

I first saw this article on eWeek (article here). I had never heard of eWeek but after looking it up realized it to be a fairly credible source. I then went to Time.com (article here) and found the article there. There is not much of a difference between the two. The Time article talked more about the actual mission and not so much the actual discovery and the scientific parts of it. eWeek touched down on some of the science parts but I wasn’t satisfied with it. I then found VOA News (article here) a government funded broadcasting company. The online article I found there talked much more about what was found and how it can be interpreted. I feel as if all of these sources are credible.

This discovery could lead to so many new ideas and theories of space travel. NASA could start a program to build a base on the moon and Mars. That could lead to a small town being run there and a self-contained environment surviving. The possibilities are numerous and very exciting. This find could revolutionize space travel.

Chimes, Art. "VOA News - Scientists Report Finding Water on Moon." VOA News - Voice of America - English News Homepage. 25 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2009-09-25-voa40.cfm.

Mark, Roy. "Discovery of Lunar Water Making Scientific Splash." EWeek. 26 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Green-IT/Discovery-of-Lunar-Water-Making-Scientific-Splash-500709/.

Singh, Madhur. "Water on the Moon Buoys India's Space Program - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. 26 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2009. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1926393,00.html.