Theradar Mini-SARNASA, installed in theindian satelliteChandrayaan-1, has detected more than40 small lunar cratersfrom a size of 1.6 to 15 kilometers, allfilled with ice. “Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it is estimated that there could be at least600 million metric tons of frozen wateron the satellite, “NASA said in a statement.
The finding “shows thatthe Moon is a more interesting and attractive destinationin the scientific, operational and exploration fields of what we previously thought “, according to Paul Spudis, principal investigator of the experimentMini-SARin theLunar and Planetary Instituteof Houston, Texas (USA).
TheMini-SARHe has spent the last year mapping the permanently shadowed craters of the moon that are not visible from Earth, using the polarization properties of radio waves.
The radar findings, which will be published in the journalGeophysical Research Letters, are consistent with findings from other NASA instruments. TheMoon Mineralogy Mapperfrom NASA, also aboard the Indian satelliteChandrayaan-1, discovered water molecules at the Moon’s poles, while theLunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) NASA recently detectedwater steam.
