Lunar Prospector destined for a Watery Grave NASA Science News home Lunar Prospector heads for a Watery Grave NASA scientists have decided to send Lunar Prospector crashing into the Moon's south pole in search of water. A positive detection of water vapor or its photo-dissociated byproduct, OH, would provide definitive proof that water ice exists in the lunar polar regions. Undoubtedly the most tantalizing finding has been the possible detection of substantial water-ice deposits at both the North and South lunar poles. If initial estimates of the polar water content are correct, then there may be enough water on the Moon to support substantial human colonies provided that it can be efficiently extracted from the regolith. By crashing into one of the shadowed craters at the Moon's south pole, Lunar Prospector will hopefully provide the first incontrovertible proof that water is really there and, perhaps, give some additional indications of its quantity.
Neutrons are subatomic particles that are continually ejected from the lunar soil by cosmic rays.
More information . This effort to gain additional science data about the Moon's composition was proposed to NASA by an external team of scientists led by Dr. David Goldstein of the University of Texas in Austin. Since the implementation costs are minimal and the mission is scheduled to end anyway, it seems fitting to give Lunar Prospector the chance to provide scientific data right up to the very end of its highly successful mission. The current plan calls for a controlled impact of the Lunar Prospector spacecraft in the early morning hours of July 31 directly into a small crater, located at the southern lunar pole. This crater is ideal for the proposed experiment.