Isro, Nasa scientists sniff water on moon

Water ahoy! Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) and National Aeronautics & Space Administration (Nasa) scientists have, for the first time, found sure-fire clues of the presence of water and ice in the polar regions of the moon. This puts to rest all speculation over the issue, scientists claim.

The findings came through data from one of Isro’s unmanned moon-orbiting satellite Chandrayaan-1’s onboard payloads, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), which was provided by Nasa.

The payload mapped and detected areas in the moon’s polar region that suggested patches, which, the scientists believe, are clues to the presence of water or ice.

Chandrayaan-I and II project director M Annadurai told DNA:  “With this finding, the possibility of water or ice on the moon is no longer speculation. We cannot say that there is no water on the moon, but we only need further confirmation about its presence.”

To confirm their findings, India and US plan to synchronise their efforts from August. A payload aboard the US lunar reconnaissance orbiter, which is scheduled to be launched on June 21 by Nasa, will exchange data with a Chandrayaan-1 payload.

The data exchange will help measure the extent of water or ice presence in the moon’s polar regions, Annadurai explained.

Isro scientists have also begun hunting for a suitable spot to land a lunar rover on the moon’s surface. This would be part of the Chandrayaan-II mission scheduled to be launched in 2012.