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spacecraft mapped Shackleton crater

using a laser to illuminate the crater's interior and measure its albedo or natural reflectance

laser light measures to a depth comparable to its wavelength, or about a micron

represents a millionth of a meter, or less than one ten-thousandth of an inch

used the instrument to map the relief of the crater's terrain based on the time it took for laser light to bounce back from the moon's surface. The longer it took, the lower the terrain's elevation.

addition to the possible evidence of ice, the group's map of Shackleton revealed a remarkably preserved crater that has remained relatively unscathed since its formation more than three billion years ago

Like several craters at the moon's south pole, the small tilt of the lunar spin axis means Shackleton crater's interior is permanently dark and therefore extremely cold

The crater's interior is extremely rugged

"It would not be easy to crawl around in there

Japanese spacecraft Kaguya saw no discernible signs of

NASA's LCROSS probe analyzed Cabeus Crater near the moon's south pole and found it measured as much as 5 percent water by mass

crater's floor is more reflective than that of other nearby craters, suggesting it had ice.

The amount of ice in Shackleton Crater "can also be much less, conceivably as little as zero

Bizarrely, while the crater's floor was relatively bright, Zuber and her colleagues observed that its walls were even more reflective.

researchers think the reflectance of the crater's walls is due not to ice, but to quakes

may have caused Shackleton's walls to slough off older, darker soil, revealing newer, brighter soil underneath

reflectance could be indicative of something else in addition to or other than water ice

might be reflective because it could have had relatively little exposure to solar and cosmic radiation that would have darkened it.

measurements only look at a micron-thick portion of Shackleton Crater's uppermost layer

bigger question is how much water might be buried at depth

strongly suggests that water has been a part of the Moon since its early existence – and perhaps since it was first created

2009 discovery of water on the moon

images show a very young lunar crater on the side of the moon that faces away from Earth

NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper on the Indian Space Research Organization's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft

distribution of water-rich minerals (light blue) is shown around a small crater

2009, observations from three spacecraft showed signals of water across moon's surface

stream of charged hydrogen ions carried from the sun to the moon by the solar wind

might explain the possible presence of hydroxyl or water on the moon.

NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, which flew aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to 15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice. The red circles denote fresh craters; the green circle mark anomalous craters.

NASA's Mini-SAR instrument

aboard India's Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft

found more than 40 small craters with water ice

total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater

estimated there could be at least 600 million metric tons of water ice

the moon's permanently shadowed regions may hide stores of water

photo of the moon's south pole

January 2011 study suggested that water on the moon most likely came from comets that pelted the lunar surface after its formation

In October 2010, scientists reported that a frigid crater called Cabeus at the moon's south pole is jam-packed with water ice, with some spots wetter than Earth's Sahara desert

NASA's LCROSS probe discovered beds of water ice at the lunar south pole when it impacted the moon in October 2009. This visible camera image shows the ejecta plume at about 20 seconds after LCROSS's impact on the moon.

Recent studies have found vast amounts of water ice at or near the lunar surface. But the inside of the moon is bone dry, an August 2010 study found.