MOON RIVERS, OR ?

Image: frm News Around The Globe

Yeah, some refer to me as a moldy oldy, but regardless I boldly continue to enjoy 50s-80s music. One of those is most appropriate for this blog entry. It is "Moon River." The fact that I live right on the shore of a lovely river further supports both my music choice and belief that there is water on our Moon.


In the Fall of 2009 NASA announced that they had found a considerable amount of water on the Moon. This report came as a result of the successful flight of the LCROSS spacecraft which nose-dived into a selected area in the South polar region of the Moon. This was an exciting announcement that promised increased scientific attention to the Moon's geological history. That history is also a key marker in the history of our planet and our solar system.  Moon explorers were also encouraged because the discovery gave a hint of possible water resources to support a sustained human exploration of the Moon.


In June of this year, Reuters news service reported on the findings of the National Academy of Science which stated, "We found that the minimum water content ranged from 64 parts per billion to 5 parts per million -- at least two orders of magnitude greater than previous results."


Just less than two months later, the publication Wired Science reports that scientists that have been studying the Moon rocks returned from the Apollo missions indicate that because of the absence of Chlorine 35, which is directly related to the presence of Hydrogen, that there is no water on the Moon! There is no disputing the assays that were performed and their relevance to the chemical necessities required to support the presence of water.  Fortunately not all researchers are yet ready to fully agree that this latest analysis is representative of the water retention capabilities of the entire Moon.  


This is what is so encouraging and delightful about scientific research. It is what I call learned disputations that often help to eventually form real theory or scientific fact.  In the case of water on the Moon, I would think we need more samples, and also direct human exploration of the Moon.This must include drilling down into the deeper recesses of our lovely satellite.


There is some worry that the latest scientific findings will further discourage extended human exploration of the Moon.That decision would exclude the creation of a permanent Moon base. Moon exploration supporters will, I believe, move to point out that the latest results are important, but inconclusive and rather than serve to discourage further exploration, they promote the need for more extensive "on-site" research.


In time we will find that comets impacted our Moon and in that event they contributed to the currently hidden water resources on it. In my opinion, we have exhausted robotic investigations. It is time to start building our Moon base and getting on with a full human exploration. Shoving human exploration onto a back burner denies the processes of sound scientific research. We should not do that and should follow the ideas proffered by the Moon Society in developing and implementing an International Lunar Research Park. Are you ready?