Atlas — the world canvas

Connections

• is first directly measured of LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) — Spectra of the ejecta plume gave water at 5.6 ± 2.9 per cent by mass — the first direct measurement of water inside a lunar cold trap rather than an inference from remote sensing.
• concentrated in Lunar South Pole Region — The Moon's 1.5° axial tilt leaves polar crater floors in permanent shadow below about 100 K, cold enough to trap water for billions of years; no equatorial site retains ice at the surface.
• motivates target of Artemis Program — Water is the reason Artemis goes to the pole rather than the equator: drinking water, breathable oxygen, shielding and hydrogen–oxygen propellant that would otherwise have to be lifted out of Earth's gravity well — the resource case Apollo never had.