Water ice on the Moon is confirmed. Chandrayaan-1's NASA-built Moon Mineralogy Mapper found surface hydration in 2009, NASA's LCROSS impact found about 5.6% ic…
Caltech scientists argued that polar craters in permanent shadow stay cold enough to trap water for billions of years.
Apollo samples from low latitudes showed almost no water, and traces were blamed on contamination from Earth.
Excess hydrogen at both poles, consistent with ice mixed into soil. Hydrogen alone is not proof of water.
India's first Moon mission carried two NASA instruments that would reshape lunar water science.
A 3-micron signal of water or hydroxyl across much of the surface, strongest near the poles, confirmed by Cassini and Deep Impact.
A rocket stage hit a shadowed crater on 9 October 2009; the plume held up to ~155 kg of water vapour and ice.
Re-analysed Chandrayaan-1 data showed diagnostic signatures of water ice exposed in shadowed spots near both poles.
SOFIA found molecular water in sunlit soil, about a 12-ounce bottle per cubic metre.
No ice detector was on board. Its temperature data later suggested ice could survive under steep pole-facing slopes.
NASA cited cost growth and launch delays in July 2024, after the rover was fully assembled.
The lander came down on its side near the south pole. The drill ran briefly; no ice deposit was confirmed.
NASA revived VIPER with a Blue Origin lander for late 2027, subject to review of Blue Origin's first flight.
Ice built up over 3-3.5 billion years in older craters, and moonquakes could be used to map buried ice.
Bad weather stopped the 24 August launch and lighting windows for Shackleton's rim were lost; it is now planned for 2027.
Only if deposits are rich, shallow and pure enough to extract with available power. No one has measured that in place yet.
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