Related: NASA to launch moon-impact probe

    BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhuanet)-- NASA plans to send a probe crashing into a crater on the moon's south pole in a hunt for water that could be used for future manned missions, the U.S. space agency said on Monday.

The moon would eventually serve as a jumping off platform for exploring Mars.

    The 73-million-dollar mission is called Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or L-Cross for short. And the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a 543-kilogramme spacecraft, is set to be launched in late 2008.

    The 2008 mission will be looking for ice in the permanently dark craters of the moon's south pole by examining a plume of dust to be kicked up by an impact hitting the surface, NASA scientists said.

    The impact will send a plume of debris, containing material that was hidden beneath the surface, between 30 and 35 miles in the air. The spacecraft will have a follow-on monitoring satellite that will fly through the plume to determine what's in the debris ¡ª similar to NASA's Deep Impact mission last July, which blasted into a comet. 

    The mission is the first step in returning astronauts to the moon between 2015 to 2020, where they are to further explore the possibility of establishing a sustained human presence on the moon.

    A bevy of water would make the polar region ideal for a lunar base because it could be used to make drinking water, breathing air and rocket propellant. That would be a huge money-saver for human missions because it means that much less cargo to launch.

    The moon, according to NASA's long-term objectives set by US President George W. Bush, would eventually serve as a jumping off platform for exploring Mars. Enditem

    (Agencies)