Extensive imaging and analysis of the giant Shackleton crater revealed what could previously only be speculated: that the 4 km deep crater likely contains small amounts of ice in its deep, dark depths.
The 3 billion-year-old crater has been of particular interest for scientists for quite some time, who suspected that its unique characteristics could lead to ice being collected in its interior; this is due to the fact that sunlight continually strikes its upper areas, but is unable to penetrate the core, which has remained in darkness over the billions of years since it was formed.
This leaves the surface of the core at balmy temperatures of around -233 celsius (nearly as cold as theoretically possible, with absolute zero being just 40 celsius colder), creating cold traps that it's suspected would trap any stray water molecules in its icy grip.
So a group of scientists and researchers from several major universities and organizations, including MIT and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, did the only reasonable thing they could to get to the bottom of things (namely the crater). They took millions of measurements of it using a device called a laser altimeter, which is carried around by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which orbits the moon.
The results of all the data suggest that the depths of the crater are brighter than they should be, with a possible explanation being the presence of ice mixed with rock at the crater's surface. But before you start throwing "there's ice in the Shackleton crater" parties, the scientists cautioned that another possible explanation for the relatively bright crater floor is that it's been less damaged by meteor bombardments over the years than other areas of the moon's surface.
This isn't the first time Shackleton and other craters on the moon have been analyzed for the presence of ice. A 2008 study published in the journal Science concluded that Shackleton did not contain ice, though it used an entirely different method of detection to reach that conclusion.
The rim of the Shackleton crater is considered a leading candidate for NASA's planned base on the moon. The results of the massive Shackleton study appear in the most recent issue of the journal Nature.
