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A team of NASA scientists used laser light from the altimeter onboard LRO to look at the surface of the Shackleton crater, which is located on the South Pole of the Moon and is about two miles deep and 12 miles across.
They found that the floor of the crater is brighter than the floors of other nearby craters, which indicates that ice may be present.
In fact, the scientists found that the floor of the Shackleton crater is made up of as much as 22% of ice.
The NASA article "NASA Spacecraft Reveals Ice Content in Moon Crater" quotes Dr. Gregory Neumann, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Neumann states, "The brightness measurements have been puzzling us since two summers ago. While the distribution of brightness was not exactly what we had expected, practically every measurement related to ice and other volatile compounds on the moon is surprising, given the cosmically cold temperatures inside its polar craters."
The YouTube video "Shackleton Crater: Researchers Estimate Ice Content of Crater at Moon's South Pole" appears below.
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