We may never see a full moon again. NASA plans to crash a rocket into the Moon’s south pole. The rocket will hit the force of 2 metric tons of TNT and launch an estimated 350 tons of debris into space, some of which NASA hopes is water.
At a transportation cost of $10,000 per pound, water is a precious commodity in space. Dr. Anthony Colaprete, the mission’s lead scientist, says that if just the top few meters of the Moon’s poles are made up of just 1% water-ice there could be as much as 1.3 trillion gallons of water. That works out to about $104 quadrillion worth of water, making the relatively cheap $79 million mission more than worthwhile.
The impact is scheduled for Friday 4:30 AM PDT and will be visible from the west coast & Hawaii but will broadcast live @ Nasa.gov/ntv & Exploratorium.edu/webcasts. Until then check out this documentary courtesy of Mr. Show.