It is a bit of a disappointment. We just don't know where exactly. He said the McDonald telescopes continue to take data, however, recording measurements in invisible ultraviolet light. The data will be analyzed in a search for the chemical signature of water, a process that may take weeks. The 354-pound spacecraft was to complete its highly successful voyage of discovery by smashing near the lunar south pole, into a shadowed crater that scientists believe may contain frozen water.
Telescopes watching from Earth and orbit are to search that plume for evidence of water.
It was hoped there might also be a visible plume or dust cloud from the impact, but there were no immediate reports of such sightings from about a half dozen observatory telescopes focused on the moon. It completed more than 6,800 orbits, dipping to within 6.2 miles, as its five instruments analyzed the moon's chemistry, gravity and magnetic fields. Findings from one of the instruments led to the plan to crash the spacecraft into the surface. In readings over the lunar poles, the instrument detected the chemical signature of hydrogen, a finding that to scientists suggests the presence of water. By some estimates, there could be as much as 200 million metric tons of water mixed in the top 18 inches of lunar soil near the poles.