Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Lots of ice found?

Radar Finds Ice Deposits at Moon's North Pole

This sounds impressive:
Numerous craters near the poles of the Moon have interiors that are in permanent sun shadow. These areas are very cold and water ice is stable there essentially indefinitely. Fresh craters show high degrees of surface roughness (high CPR) both inside and outside the crater rim, caused by sharp rocks and block fields that are distributed over the entire crater area. However, Mini-SAR has found craters near the north pole that have high CPR inside, but not outside their rims. This relation suggests that the high CPR is not caused by roughness, but by some material that is restricted within the interiors of these craters. We interpret this relation as consistent with water ice present in these craters. The ice must be relatively pure and at least a couple of meters thick to give this signature.
Of course, the poles should have been a priority for human exploration on the return to the Moon. When that's going to happen now, though, is anyone's guess.

1 comment:

Mercurius Aulicus said...

The way NASA is going at the moment - a moonbase isn't going to be a priority. See Carter Van Carter's post at Across Difficult Country