No Lunar Ice?

Last March the news and computer networks were abuzz with word that the Clementine spacecraft -- then in orbit around the Moon -- had discovered water ice on the floor of perpetually shadowed craters at the lunar poles. Actually, no such discovery was made -- the spacecraft operating team was successful only in taking the radar measurements. Recently, at a meeting in early November, scientists reported that the preliminary analysis of Clementine's radar search for water on the Moon is still inconclusive. According to astronomer Richard Simpson, "The data shows no clearly unambiguous icy signature, but the analysis has only just begun." While no large areas of frost are present at the lunar poles, ice could still exist if mixed with lunar soil.