Contributed by: evilscientist
NASA's LCROSS probe has confirmed the presence of water on the Moon! This is a very important discovery in many respects. First, it means that water is very common in the universe, though we knew this from observations of Mars and clouds in deep space. It also means that permanent manned bases on the moon are possible.Water on the Moon make permanent bases there easier. First, we don't have to truck water from Earth up there to hydrate the astronauts nor for growing food. Second we can use energy from the Sun, which shines down uninterrupted on any point on the moon for 14 days or so to turn the water into oxygen for the astronauts to breath. Finally it allows us to use the Moon as a jumping off point for further space exploration since it's easier to escape from the lunar gravity well and hydrogen and oxygen make excellent rocket fuel.
Of course most of this is well into the future so it will be some time before we can take advantage of this. NASA also needs to work out how much water there was so if there's not enough all bets are off. Either way it's way cool that we've confirmed water on our nearest neighbour.
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Evilness
http://www.evilscientist.ca/article.php?story=20091113200029798