Click on image for full size
NASA

Ice patches seen on Earth's moon
News story originally written on December 2, 1996

Radar images of the Moon's surface taken by American Defense Departments's Clementine lunar probe have pointed to the possibility of finding water on the Moon. The images of the Moon's south pole region show a patch of ice about 16 feet thick and roughly the size of four football fields.

One theory suggests that the source of ice was a comet which hit the Moon's surface some 3.6 billion years ago. Water from the icy comet was collected in the bottom of the crater where temperatures fall as low as -230 C. Because moon has no atmosphere, comets do not burn up as they approach its surface. Upon impact with the Moon's surface, gaseous matter from comets hangs around as a cloud. Water molecules from this cloud get trapped in extreme cold regions, finally depositing as ice. The scientist now theorize that vapor from comet impacts drifted towards the pole where it got trapped in extreme cold and turned into ice.

The discovery was made two years ago, but was hushed until now as the data were being analyzed. The evidence of water was collected by a satellite designed to test technology for tracking and intercepting hostile missiles. The Clementine mission used the Moon as a mock target to test missile sensor equipment, but during its two-month lunar orbit it collected 1.8 million images of over 99.9 per cent of the Moon's surface. Six visits to the equatorial region of the Moon by Apollo spacecraft turned up no trace of water. Twelve astronauts, all from the U.S., have walked on the surface of the moon, which is about 239,000 miles from the Earth.


You might also be interested in:

Hubble Monitors Weather on Neighboring Planets

"The weather on Mars: another cool and clear day. Low morning haze will give way to a mostly sunny afternoon with high clouds. The forecast for Venus: hot, overcast, sulfuric acid showers will continue....more

Galileo visits Callisto

Early morning on November, 4 1996, NASA's Galileo spacecraft approached to within 686 miles of the stark, crater-smeared Jupiter's moon Callisto. This is the first time that Galileo has approached Callisto,...more

High-altitude ionosphere found at Io by Galileo

Scientists participating in NASA's Galileo mission have discovered that the during its Io fly-by, Galileo spacecraft may have flown through a dense, high-altitude ionosphere. This discovery suggests that...more

New discoveries at Jupiter's moon Ganymede

NASA's Galileo spacecraft has transmitted back crisp new images of Jupiter's moon Ganymede which show the moon's surface is daubed by comet and and asteroid impact marks. In addition to these findings,...more

Hubble captures Jupiter and Io

NASA'S Hubble Space Telescope has taken a rare joint portrait of Jupiter and its volcanically active moon Io, as the moon passes above the turbulent clouds of the giant gas planet. The conspicuous black...more

Hubble's auroral images of Jupiter

Scientists studying Jupiter's auroral regions are using images from Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 to map the planet's immense magnetic field and better understand the auroral phenomena. Aurorae...more

Dust storm hits the Martian north pole

The Martian north polar is seen to be besieged by a Texas-sized dust storm. Two Hubble Space Telescope images, taken about a month apart shows this storm sitting at the edge of the north polar cap. It...more

Mars Global Surveyor Update

According to the most recent flight status report printed on January 24, 1997, the Mars Global Surveyor is in excellent condition and well on its way to the dusty red planet. The Mars Global Surveyor...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA