Oct 22, 2010 06:40 GMT  ·  By
The tiny dot, indicated with an arrow, is the heat signature left behind by the LCROSS impact.
   The tiny dot, indicated with an arrow, is the heat signature left behind by the LCROSS impact.

In the latest issue of the esteemed journal Science, six new studies show that the Moon actually contains an abundance of water, especially at ground zero, where the LCROSS spacecraft slammed into the lunar surface last year.

That was the first instance in which a space agency carried out such a mission. A spent rocket stage and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite were set on a collision course with the Moon, and, as they slammed into it, experts analyzed the debris field that was formed.

Investigators determined shortly after that water-ice and plain ice existed at the lunar South Pole, and that the stuff was abundant. Subsequent studies shed even more light on just how much chemicals were present at those locations.

The six new studies were carried out separate from each other, and they made a host of interesting discoveries, such as for example the fact that ground zero for the impact holds enough water to enable future human activities at the site.

Now, more than a year after the LCROSS event, scientists are finally revealing the complex nature of the experiment, as well as how close they were to failing in their quest.

They explain that 22 ground-based and 4 space-based telescopes watched the impact, in addition to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which was in lunar orbit at the time, Space reports.

“It was a very coordinated dance between a lot of different parties,” explains Tony Colaprete, the NASA scientist who was the LCROSS principal investigator..

It took two years for investigators to learn how to train telescopes on the Moon, and how to track spacecrafts as they were being engulfed by the bright glare of the satellite in the night sky.

At one point, a glitch in the impactor's systems threatened to shut down the entire mission. Days before the impact was scheduled to take place, the spacecraft experienced a spike in fuel consumption, which made experts wonder if it would reach its target.

“The spacecraft did a little dance without our permission. I remember getting a call at 4 a.m., and thinking, 'Oh, no.' It was really scary,” Colaprete says for Space.

“At the rate it was burning fuel, if we had found out an hour or two later,  it would've been out of fuel and dead in space. Luckily, our stellar team figured out what the problem was and how to save fuel. We got there with fuel to spare,” he adds.

In the end, the investigations revealed signs of ice, water-ice, ice mixed with soil, and a variety of other chemicals, all of which were condensed in the small area that LCROSS struck.