05-December-2008, 07:17 PM
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Order of Kilopi
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Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 4,787
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Wait, there's no discussion thread on BAUT, so I'd better post an extract.
Kaguya can't find water on the Moon.
Quote:
It's been a long-held belief that the Moon is hiding significant quantities of water ice, safe from the Sun's ablative effects inside shady craters. One such crater is called Shackleton at the lunar South Pole and previous Moon missions have indicated it might hold a large reservoir of ice for all the water needs of future Moon colonists. Alas, the Japanese lunar mission Kaguya (or the Selenological and Engineering Explorer - "SELENE") has taken a peek into the crater to find… nothing. At least, it hasn't spotted any significant quantities of surface ice.
[...]
As there is no atmosphere (apart from some very tenuous outgassed chemicals), sunlight cannot be scattered into the bottom of the crater to illuminate its surface. However, scientists have taken images during lunar mid-summer when enough light is scattered off the crater's upper inner wall to faintly brighten the darkness below.
Although it is very cold inside the crater (-183°C or -297°F), certainly ideal conditions to preserve ice, there is no visual evidence of any surface ice at all.
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