Moon On The Rocks

New data from the Indian Moon probe suggests there is more water ice at the Moon's polar regions than previously expected. According to Paul Spudis (who happens to be primary investigator on the key experiment) the craters at the Moon's poles show more jagged surfaces under radar than their age and visual appearance would normally suggest. Dr. Spudis believes this means lots of water ice in those polar craters, where the Sun literally doesn't shine. His back-of-the-envelope estimate is that there's about 600 million tons of water there.

Okay, why is this interesting? Well, people need water; water can be used to make rocket fuel; water's also useful for growing food. If there's water on the Moon it becomes a lot easier to build bases there and use the Moon as the springboard to the rest of the Solar System. It's all about energy: every kilogram of mass you don't have to lift off the Earth is a tremendous saving in cost.

Let's hope someone decides to make use of this potential resource, and venture back to the Moon and beyond. Let's also hope it's someone nice.