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Published online 13 November 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1087
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Lunar impact tosses up water and stranger stuff
NASA claims definitive detection of Moon water in the Solar System's 'attic'.
The debate is finally over. Lunar scientists have detected water for certain near the north pole of the Moon, after the impact of a NASA projectile kicked up water vapour along with a plume of dust.
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The Centaur booster NASA impacted was tanked with 17,000 kg total of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants. 90 kg of residual tankage, 0.5% residual, in the 31,000 lb Centaur booster was what NASA "detected" after impact combustion.
If the moon is an ejectile of the earth following an impact and traveling away still, why would it be a surprise that water exists there?
An encouraging confirmation of the results of India’s lunar probe Chandrayaan-1. As is well known it was Chandrayaan-1 which was the first to provide spectrographic evidence of water on the moon. Prior to this it had been widely accepted by the international scientific community that the moon was dry! Dr. Upinder Fotadar