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As they say, the third time is the charm. Three different missions to the moon have relayed back evidence of water. There were traces of water in the moon rocks brought back by Apollo, but that was attributed to contamination. Three more recent examinations have found evidence of water: India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe detected water by mapping wavelengths of light from the moon’s surface, the Cassini probe found evidence of global distribution of the water signal, and the Deep Impact spacecraft found evidence by infrared detection.
“The Deep Impact observations of the Moon not only unequivocally confirm the presence of [water/hydroxyl] on the lunar surface, but also reveal that the entire lunar surface is hydrated during at least some portion of the lunar day,” the authors wrote in their study.
The findings of all three spacecraft “provide unambiguous evidence for the presence of hydroxyl or water,” said Paul Lucey of the University of Hawaii in an opinion essay accompanying the three studies. Lucey was not involved in any of the missions.
The new data “prompt a critical reexamination of the notion that the moon is dry. It is not,” Lucey wrote.
The amount of water on the moon is miniscule by Earth standards, with one ton of lunar surface holding about 32 ounces. Link -via Digg
The ultimate backyard status symbol is a tree that has been to the moon. There are hundreds of them, and most are unaccounted for. Astronaut Stuart Roosa took a packet of tree seeds on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon in 1971. After orbiting the moon 34 times, the seeds were planted on earth and grew into trees.
Everyone wanted a Moon tree. In 1975 and ’76, trees were sent to the White House, to Independence Square in Philadelphia, to Valley Forge. “One tree went to the Emperor of Japan. Senators wanted trees to dedicate buildings. We even did some plantings in New Orleans because the mayor there, Mayor Moon, wanted some,” says Krugman. There were so many requests that “we had to produce additional seedlings from rooted cuttings of the original trees.”
No one kept systematic records, notes Dave Williams. That’s why the whereabouts of the trees today are mostly unknown.
There may be a moon tree somewhere near you! Link to story. Link to website. -via reddit
