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Sunday, September 27, 2009

Water Water Everywhere...on the Moon!

The major space news this past week, and probably most significant in history of space exploration is the discovery of water on Moon!

The international cooperation between Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) led to this astounding discovery.

The NASA moon minerology mapper instrument onboard ISRO's Chndrayaan-1 moon probe, discovered large quantities of water and hydroxyl molecules on moon. There aren't lakes or puddles (yet) but molecules combined to dust on the lunar surface.


Why is this such a big deal?

Water is important for life (as we know it) to exist.

We already found water ice on places like Mars, why are we excited about Moon?

Moon was supposed to be dry, and after all these years of exploration, including various manned missions, it is hugely surprising that water molecules were not discovered before. This opens up a new set of questions....

  • Where did all these water come from? whats its origin?
  • Why haven't we been able to see it before?
  • What other parts of solar system, which we currently think as dry has water?
  • Is there liquid water on Moon?
  • When are we going to announce that we found life on Moon ? ( :)
These questions will be discussed and debated for years to come...

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