It is no accident that the fuel that powers the shuttle lunch is the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Those two elements abundant on Earth provide the power to lift rockets out of our atmosphere. On Earth, the water planet, these elements are obvious and when combined we call the substance water. We could not exist without it. It is little wonder that the discovery of the presence of water even in small quantities is of great excitement. It is not flowing water as we know so well but water locked into the lunar soil. If as is now promised water is available then it makes a lunar base a distinct possibility. Without water we would have to carry it with us on any lunar excursion. With the presence of water we have both a source of fuel as well as a source of maintaining our life on the Moon.

Undecided at present is whether water might exist in some of the permanently dark lunar craters which are placed near the poles and never see the fierce solar glare of the the Sun. This discovery brings much closer the hope that these craters might be reservoirs of frozen water.

See the discussion in our forum