Has Chandrayaan Found Water on the Moon?

In a media conference scheduled at 2pm EST tomorrow (Thursday), Dr Carle Pieters plans to make a major announcement about findings from the Chandrayaan-1 mission. She is the principal investigator for the M3 (Moon Minerology Mapper) instrument supplied by NASA. The rumour is that they have discovered the telltale signs of minerals which can only exist in the presence of water.

At the same time, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has also found neutron signatures corresponding to large amounts of hydrogen in various places on the Moon, including below its surface. If the findings are true, that would make India part of the most momentous discovery in the entire history of space missions.

If large amounts of water do exist on the Moon, it would certainly facilitate the prospect of lunar colonization, as well as the possibility for opening up the rest of the solar system to manned exploration by using the Moon as an intermediary staging base.

It's also nice to see such a great bonanza come from the first joint cooperation between ISRO and NASA.

As I've said before - there are countries which strive to put the Moon on their flag, and then there are countries which strive to put their flag on the Moon. It's good to see countries of the latter type pushing forward the boundaries of human progress. Because of this, one day our great-great-great grandchildren might be living on the Moon or Mars.