Moon bombing as search for space water begins

A NASA rocket has successfully crashed into a crater on the moon to raise a debris plume, an experiment that allows scientists to look for traces of ice and water in the perpetually dark lunar craters.

NASA on Friday steered two parts of a spacecraft, Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), into Cabeus, a crater in the vicinity of the moon's lunar South Pole, at more than 9,000km per hour, the Guardian reported.

The effect of the impact was captured by the cameras of a shepherding spacecraft that followed the rocket four minutes later. The impact, however, did not occur the way scientists had anticipated, raising speculations that the mission may end with a failure.

NASA scientists had hoped that the crash would form a 10km-high cloud that could be easily scanned for evidence of water.

Nonetheless, the data relayed back to earth will be analyzed for hydrogen bearing compounds. If such traces are found, the water will be used for future long-term space missions as NASA is hopeful to one day establish a human outpost on the moon.

"If we could live off the land, using this water -- if we discover it -- that would be a great benefit," said Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, ABC News reported. "That would mean we don't have to bring it with us."

Amid fears that the moon bombing would have harmed the moon, Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager, moved to allay the concerns on Thursday.

"The impact has about a million times less impact on the moon than a passenger's eyelash falling to the floor of a 747 during flight," Andrews said, DPA reported.