India’s lunar mission finds evidence of water on the Moon

Well ... looks like a pretty significant discovery. I think it could be a big step forward in mankind's journey into space.

I think this is another stellar (no pun intended) example of international co-operation in space. Kudos to ISRO and NASA on this find.

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Depends on the amount of water,
Finding a trace of moisture is one thing, finding evidence of large amounts somewhere...yes, that would be a discovery that supersedes any other planetary discovery.

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From what I read briefly, the water ice crystals are scattered all throughout the soil. Like billions and billions of gallons...

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I think it's quite significant.

Finding water on Mars was not a huge surprise because of the visible caps...but I don't think anyone really suspected that there would be any amount of water on the moon which, by it's very appearance, seems like a dry, dusty, cratered, rock.

It doesn't mean much in regard to the moon itself, but I think it's a tip off that water may not be such a galactic or universal anomaly....and that there may be much more than meets the eye on more distant terrestrial planetary bodies.

I realize there was some Indian nationalism at play in the OP. I think that's great and I'm happy to see space programs other than NASA bear fruit. Space exploration is hopefully no longer an adversarial endeavor as it was back in the 60's between U.S. and the U.S.S.R.

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Ahh...I scanned the article and didn't look very deep...heh.

If this is so, this would be incredible.
Water = sustainability of life.
Water = fuel.

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Mea Culpa ...
But I believe in giving credit where it is due ... The craft was Indian but the instrument was American ... and that is why I attributed the discovery to both ISRO and NASA ...
I agree with you that space exploration should be co-operative not competetive ...

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Interesting find. Thanks for the link.

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Is it really that water exists on the moon? Good news.

Heard something on the radio this evening that said the driest desert on Earth has more moisture than will be found on the moon.

I don't think we'll be colonizing the moon anytime soon...

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The real significant find here is hydroxyl (HO), deposited all over the higher latitudes by solar wind, where it's bonded to the various oxide minerals, in quantities of 1 part per thousand. That equals about 1 liter per ton of regolith. That doesn't sound like much, but it adds up when we recycle everything we use. And it apparently doesn't include dense deposits of water ice (H2O) deposited in numerous permanently shadowed craters around the poles.

There is more than enough water to jump start human civilization there.

Moonward Ho!

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I may have my facts a little off, but from what I've heard and read NASA is in the middle of a mission to the moon involving using a bomb to create a large crater on the surface to search for water. If the ISRO (and NASA jointly depending on how you see it) already discovered water on the moon, then what is NASA doing with this mission? How much evidence do they have to collect before it becomes accepted that there is water on the moon so that NASA and other organizations can move to the next logical step of putting that water to use?

Has the UN sanctioned this unprovoked attack?

*chuckles* I don't know, but I would hate to go to war with the moon.

the bomb isn't nuclear so I don't think it's an issue, I doubt Nasa would risk upsetting the UN.

That NASA mission already took place. The fired a probe into the moon to basically kick up dust and the dust cloud it creates can then be analyzed from orbit to determine any water in the lunar soil. Also, as part of that mission there will be probe or satellite in orbit that will continue to scan the lunar surface for a while to look for future landing sites.

Anyhow, that's a good question. Why NASA still proceeded with that mission after finding water during the Indian mission doesn't seem to make sense.