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Water ice exists on moon's surface, NASA confirms

The image shows the distribution of surface ice at the Moon's south pole (left) and north pole (right), detected by NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument. Blue represents the ice locations, plotted over an image of the lunar surface, where the grayscale corresponds to surface temperature (darker representing colder areas and lighter shades indicating warmer zones). This is the first time scientists have directly observed definitive evidence of water ice on the Moon's surface. (Contributed photo/NASA) By  Leada Gore lgore@al.com NASA scientists have confirmed ice created by water on the moon's surface, a discovery that could play a significant role in future space missions. A team of scientists, led by Shuai Li of the University of Hawaii and Brown University, used data from NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper to confirm the water ice at the moon's dark and cold north and south poles. "Most of the newfound water ice lies in the shadows of