11月13日，美国航天局NASA发表新闻公报说，经过对月球坑观测和传感卫星LCROSS(Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite)获得的撞月数据进行初步分析后肯定月球存在水。NASA负责这一项目的首席科学家Anthony Colaprete表示，初步分析结果提供了多种证据表明，10月9日Centaur Booster撞击月球南极附近的Cabeus坑后激起了两部分尘埃中都存在水的踪迹，“尽管月球上水和其他物质的浓度和分布情况还需进一步分析才能确认，但可以放心地说，Cabeus坑中存在水”。
科学家认为，如果最终能确认月球上存在丰富的水资源，将对人类建立月球基地以及探索更遥远的星球具有重要意义。水不仅是宇航员在月球上的重要生存资源，还是月球基地所需氧气和运载火箭燃料的来源。
来自NASA更多图片及分析结果
The visible camera image showing the
ejecta plume at about 20 seconds after impact. The field of view of the spectrometers are indicated by the red circle.
The view of the floor of Cabeus as
seen through the LCROSS near-infrared camera. The fresh crater made by the Centaur impact is indicated.
A zoom-in of the fresh Centaur impact as seen in the LCROSS near-infrared camera.
All LCROSS instruments worked during
descent with each one returning data at critical times. Shown here are
the near-infrared downward viewing spectrometer and ultraviolet
/visible spectrometer.
Data from the down-looking
near-infrared spectrometer. The vertical hashing on each data point
(black dots) are error bars. The troughs and dips are the result of
various compounds absorbing NIR light. These data are the average of
spectra taken between 20 to 60 seconds after impact.
Data from the down-looking
near-infrared spectrometer. The red curve shows how the spectra would
look for a "grey" or "colorless" warm (230 C) dust cloud. The smooth
curve shows no compounds being absorbed.
Data from the down-looking near-infrared spectrometer with a model that contains more compounds. A continued effort going forward will be to uniquely identify the various compounds responsible for the spectral features.
The ratio of pre- to post-impact ultraviolet/visible light data. Each line shows a individual ratio of scans starting with earlier times (pre-impact) at the bottom, and later times, moving up. The general increase over time is the result of
sunlight reflecting off dust grains in the ejecta cloud. The sharp vertical features which appear shortly after impact, indicated in the shaded blue area, are the emission lines associated with OH. The eight, or strength, of these lines are related to the amount of OH, and hence water, present in sunlight.
The OH emission lines strength
plotted as a function of time. Before impact the line is flat (no OH).
After impact the line strength grows and remains above the pre-impact
baseline for several minutes.
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