NASA finds water on the moon

A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon, the US space agency said last Friday heralding a giant leap forward in space exploration and boosting hopes of a permanent lunar base.

Preliminary data from a dramatic experiment on the moon "indicates the mission successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar crater," NASA said in a statement.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," it added, as ecstatic scientists celebrated the landmark discovery.

"Yes indeed we found water and we did not find only a little bit but a significant amount," said Anthony Colaprete, project scientist and principal investigator for the $79-million LCROSS mission.

The data was found after NASA sent two spacecraft crashing into the lunar surface last month to probe Earth's nearest neighbour for water.

One rocket slammed into the Cabeus crater, near the lunar southern pole, at around 9,000 kilometres per hour.

The rocket was followed four minutes later by a spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the initial impact, which sent a huge plume of material billowing up from the bottom of the crater, untouched by sunlight for billions of years.

"In the 20- to 30-metre crater we found maybe about a dozen, at least, two-gallon buckets of water. This is an initial result," Colaprete told reporters.

"We are ecstatic," he added in a statement.

"Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapour plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact.

"The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water," Colaprete said.

Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission, expressed hope that more water could be found on the moon.

"What's really exciting is we've only hit one spot," Schultz said.

"It's kind of like when you're drilling for oil. Once you find it one place, there's a greater chance you'll find more nearby."