Yes, there is .
But what鈥檚 it like? How much is there? Where is it? And, on everyone鈥檚 mind, could humans drink it or at least mine the molecules and live off the liquid should we relocate to space?
These questions and more could be answered with the help of the Lunar Trailblazer, a dishwasher-sized shiny satellite that left Littleton in late January, enroute to Cape Canaveral. In Florida, the smallish satellite will hitch a ride on a Space X Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Wednesday and head toward a comfortable orbit around the moon.
鈥淲e hope it leads to our understanding of the water cycle on the moon 鈥� where water is located and how it changes over time, given the different temperatures, solar radiation exposure, dark side to light side and all that,鈥� said Ryan Pfeiffer, Lockheed Martin鈥檚 program manager for the Lunar Trailblazer project, at the Waterton campus in Littleton.
It鈥檚 not the first moon mission for Lockheed Martin鈥檚 space division, which is headquartered just south of Chatfield State Park. Lockheed was part of 1998鈥檚 to map out moon surfaces. It鈥檚 been NASA鈥檚 primary contractor for the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis missions 鈥� the one sending back to the moon. And while Lockheed had started on the moon rover vehicle for the Artemis III mission, it last fall due to business strategy conflicts with a partner on the project.
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