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Published online 10 June 2009 | Nature 459, 758-759 (2009) | doi:10.1038/459758a
Updated online: 19 June 2009

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Moon mission tackles water question

NASA orbiter will hunt for water ice that could be used as a resource by future astronauts.

Eric Hand

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scheduled for launch on 17 June, should end a long-standing debate on whether the Moon has water ice. For nearly half a century, scientists have argued over the idea that bits of ice hide within the frigid darkness of permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles.

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  • CHANDRAYAAN-1 UPDATES: http://www.isro.org/chandrayaan1.htm

    • 10 Jun, 2009
    • Posted by: Upinder Fotadar

  • While the putative existence of water ice on the Moon is of scientific interest, NASA has justified its search for this water based on a supposed in situ resource utilization (ISRU) value for producing oxygen from it. However, recent plans do not use oxygen for ascent propulsion, and safety requirements are likely to dictate that ascent propellants must be brought from earth anyway to allow an abort during descent (if necessary). In any event, if ISRU is used to supply propellants for ascent to orbit, the mass benefits are modest. The investment needed for prospecting, validation of resources, validation of regolith excavation and handling, and validation of the lunar polar ISRU end-to-end system is large. Lunar polar ISRU does not pay back the initial investment in the current ESAS architecture. This implies that setting up an outpost near the pole has no justification. This, in turn casts doubt on the entire basis for the enterprise of returning to the Moon. The details are down-loadable from a number of pdf files at http://www.spaceclimate.net.

    • 10 Jun, 2009
    • Posted by: Donald Rapp