- MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Reuters) - The U.S. space probe Lunar Prospector
has found evidence of ice at the moon's poles, NASA scientists announced
Thursday.
-
- Dr Alan Binder, the mission's principal
investigator said the spacecraft had detected ``the kind of data signature
one would expect to find if water ice is present.''
-
- The existence of water ice on the moon
could prove immensely useful for any future human colonies, with astronauts
separating its components for use as rocket fuel and using it to help establish
and run residential compounds.
-
- The probe reached lunar orbit in January
to begin the first U.S. moon mission since the Apollo 17 astronauts walked
on the lunar surface in 1972. The six manned missions to the moon did not
find any evidence of water at their landing sites, which were mainly in
the equatorial area and far away from the poles.
-
- The probe was launched on Jan. 7 and
took four and a half days to travel close to the moon. Lunar Prospector
is a tiny 4-foot, 650 pound spacecraft with a price tag of $63 million.
One of its main missions was to employ a neutron spectrometer to scan the
lunar surface for signs of hydrogen to confirm theories that the moon's
polar regions could contain as much as one billion tons of water ice.
-
- Scientists had speculated that frozen
water from icy comets accumulated within polar craters on the moon permanently
shaded from the sun.
-
- Scientists have also stressed that Prospector's
other missions are also important. Among them are gamma ray analysis to
determine concentrations of elements such as uranium and iron on the lunar
surface, and an alpha particle spectrometer which will be used to look
for indications of volcanic and tectonic activity.
-
- One minor controversy surrounding the
mission has involved a nonscientific payload aboard Prospector: one ounce
(28 grams) of the ashes of planetary scientist Gene Shoemaker, who died
last year.
-
- Shoemaker, his wife, Carolyn, and amateur
astronomer David Levy discovered the broken comet, known as the Shoemaker-Levy
comet, that crashed into Jupiter in 1994. He was also involved in the unmanned
Ranger missions that paved the way for the Apollo moon landings.
-
- Navajo Indian officials voiced objections
to the inclusion of human remains on Prospector, which is designed finally
to descend and crash on the moon's surface when its mission is completed.
-
- The Navajo said human bodies should not
be left on the moon, which they regard as sacred ground. NASA officials
have apologized for any misunderstanding over the ashes, which they said
were being taken to the moon as a tribute to Shoemaker and were not intended
to cause insult to anyone.
|
Homepage