Scientists Map Ice On Moon

NASA / GSFC / SVSScientists have mapped Shackleton Crater ice...Via MSNBC:The scientists investigated Shackleton Crater, which sits almost directly on the moon's south pole. The crater, named after the Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, is more than 12 miles wide (19 kilometers) and 2 miles deep (3 kilometers) - about as deep as Earth's ocean.The interiors of polar craters on the moon are in nearly perpetual darkness, making them cold traps that researchers have long suspected might be home to vast amounts of frozen water and thus key candidates for human exploration. However, previous orbital and Earth-based observations of lunar craters have yielded conflicting interpretations over whether ice is there.For instance, the Japanese spacecraft Kaguya saw no discernible signs of ice within Shackleton Crater, but NASA's LCROSS probe analyzed Cabeus Crater near the moon's south pole and determined that it had as much as 5 percent water by mass.Now scientists who have mapped Shackleton Crater with unprecedented detail have found evidence of ice inside the crater.NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter essentially illuminated the crater's interior with infrared laser light, measuring how reflective it was. The crater's floor is more reflective than that of other nearby craters, suggesting it had ice."Water ice in amounts of up to 20 percent is a viable possibility,"... "Keep on reading..."

Source: fromatlantistosphinx.blogspot.com