NASA's new experiment in moon to hunt for water

Two US spacecraft bombed the surface of the moon on Friday in a search for hidden ice and scientists were looking for conclusive proof about presence or absence of water.

Just a couple of weeks ago, India's maiden unmanned lunar mission Chandrayaan confirmed the existence of water in the region subsequently confirmed by data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the vessel that LCROSS hitched a ride into space alongside.

US space agency NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite(LCROSS) crashed into the Cabeus crater floor near the moon's south pole at 1130 GMT(1700 IST) around 9,000 km per hour, followed four minutes later by a shepherding spacecraft equipped with cameras to record the impact.

The crash blasted a plume of rock and dust into space as Telescopes on Earth and instruments on the probe itself scoured the huge impact cloud to see if there is any water or ice spraying up. The planned live photos of the crash could not be seen even though NASA said all instruments were in order.

NASA scientists were however cautious over confirming the presence of water on moon.