Japanese Satellite Spots No Ice On Moon for Fuel, Drinkies After All

It’s been a decade since NASA’s Lunar Prospector satellite gave tantalising hints—in the form of unexpectedly sparkly reflections—that the Moon’s poles may have frozen water at or near the surface, but new data from a Japanese satellite looks like it’s quashed the rumour. Kaguya’s been in space since late last year, but it’s now trained its very highly sensitive cameras, that can see even into the near darkness inside polar craters, on the same spot of the moon Prospector saw. And all it found was dull lunar soil. There may still be water buried beneath the surface of course, but this discovery may be bad news for hopes of using plentiful hydrogen for fuel cells when we go back to the Moon in a decade or so. [NewScientist]