Bombing the Moon
NASA LCROSS Looks for Moon Water Under the Lunar Surface
Still classified from the 1950s, Project A119 was a top-secret proposal by the United States Air Force to detonate an atomic bomb on the moon. According to Wikipedia, a retired National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientist involved with the project, said it was proposed to demonstrate superior American technology to the Soviet Union and the rest of the world during the cold war. Project A119 was never attempted, but NASA discovered a new reason to bomb the moon, and did so on October 9, 2009. The price tag's about half a billion dollars but astronomical expense aside, the story gets rather intriguing.
Hydrogen and Helium-3
It all started in 1996 when the Clementine moon mapping mission discovered large areas rich in hydrogen near the south pole of the moon. In 1998, the Lunar Prospector found hydrogen at the north pole and confirmed its presence at the south pole. Then in 2008, British scientists discovered areas near the moon's south pole that appeared to always be shaded from direct sunlight. They predicted that enough water (ice) might be present in these areas to sustain a colony of Earthlings.
Some people speculate that mining the moon's relatively abundant supply of the terrestrially-rare helium-3 (He-3), which can be used to generate electricity by nuclear fusion, is the primary reason for establishing a moon base. He-3 is also a key component of the current technology used to detect smuggled nuclear materials and shortages of He-3 have resulted in recent cancellations for some of these detectors.
Launch and Watery Intrigue
On June 18, 2009, LCROSS was launched on an Atlas rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, FL along with a second satellite called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). LRO was sent immediately to the moon and began orbiting 50 km above its surface on June 23rd, monitoring the chosen target, the Cabeus A1 crater, one of the permanently-shaded areas where water might exist. LRO confirmed the presence of the polar hydrogen discovered by Clementine and the Lunar Prospector.
Intriguingly, a former NASA scientist who developed the Clementine bi-static radar experiment that first detected hydrogen on the moon was arrested on October 19, 2009 after attempting to deliver classified information to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.
The presence of oxygen-rich minerals had been discovered by the earlier Apollo landings, so at least the components of water (H2O) were abundant on the moon. But what about water itself? Remarkably, while LRO and LCROSS were still in space, three articles appeared in the September 25th issue of Science, each providing spectroscopic evidence for the presence of hydroxyl groups (OH-) and/or H2O on the lunar surface. The Indian moon probe Chandrayaan-1, the Saturn explorer Cassini, and the comet explorer known as the Deep Impact spacecraft made the measurements reported in these articles.
Impact
Meanwhile, LCROSS had established a very high Earth orbit providing it with the proper trajectory to impact the moon's south pole. The Cabeus crater proper, rather than Cabeus A1, was ultimately selected as the most suitable target. On October 9th, LCROSS deployed a guided Centaur missile toward the Cabeus crater and followed close behind photographing and sensing the impact and the resulting cloud of debris. Nine LCROSS instruments including ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectrometers and cameras; mid-infrared thermal cameras; and ultraviolet and visible spectrometers, transmitted excellent data for analysis before LCROSS itself crashed into the moon just a few minutes later. LRO continues its lunar orbit also equipped with numerous cameras and sensors to observe the moon for at least another year. In particular, the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) is on board to look for water. The orbiter will also scrutinize possible landing sites for any future manned missions.
Great Success
NASA immediately reported that the mission was a great success but they have yet to release their results about the presence or abundance of water or He-3. Original NASA statements prior to the mission suggested that the impact would reveal water in spectacular fashion: “The upper stage of the launch vehicle (about the weight of a large SUV) will impact into either the North or South Pole of the Moon at over 9,000 km/h (5,600 mph). The impact will excavate a crater about 1/3 of a football field wide and about the depth of the deep end of a swimming pool. The amount of material (dust and probably ice) ejected could fill ten school buses, or ten Space Shuttle cargo bays. The plume will reach nearly 50 km high (over 30 miles)!” One NASA official predicted that debris plumes rising high above the crater's rim would be visible through mid-sized backyard telescopes of 10 inches and larger. NASA photographs published on the Internet show it as a little white dot on a black background. A NASA press release on October 16th stated, “...the ejecta brightness appears to be at the low end of our predictions and this may be a clue to the properties of the material the Centaur impacted.” In other words, the impact was a complete dud for those observers on Earth hoping to see something exciting.
Water?
Now we can only wait and see if the LCROSS data confirms and expands on the encouraging results reported in Science for the presence of water on the moon. Knowing NASA, it might take an atomic bomb to be certain.
Reference
- Ex-NASA scientist arrested in sting: FBI says he tried to pass classified information to agent, in the San Diego Union Tribune, By Larry Margasak, The Associated Press, October 19, 2009.
Lunar Bombing For Water (H2O) on the Moon
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