Confirmation, officially or off the record, by Lunar Prospector team members was not possible, who have had a tight clamp placed on them following increased media interest of developments.

The consistent theme of rumors is that no Titanic icebergs have been found, as yet, but ice in observable form is present but is yet to be quantified.

NASA is anxious to avoid a repeat of the Mars Meteorite announcement in 1996, that quickly took on a life off its own, but with most evidence now pointing to contamination by local life in the Antarctic where the meteorite was found.

Scientists at NASA�s Ames Research Center, who are managing Lunar Prospector have consistently advised that an official announcement will not be possible until late February or early March. With substantial calibration of data remaining before any qualitative or quantitative assessment can be validated.

Lunar Prospector reached its mapping orbit on January 13, and is in a near circular polar orbit at 100 km above the lunar surface and with a footprint scan of 150 kilometers in diameter. The orbit period is 118 minutes, with data returned from each respective pole every two hours.

Calibration and analysis of data from the Neutron spectrometer experiment, that will confirm or deny the existence of water ice on the Moon, has been intense. However, data streams come from two different detectors which must be then subtracted, while calibrating and comparing the thermal and epithermal fluxes. The resulting ratio is analyzed and related to the time and location to understand exactly where on the lunar surface the data was generated.

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Yuri Plus 41bb
Sydney - Apr 08, 2002
It's only a year since the world staged the inaugural Yuri's Night celebrations, but so much has changed on Earth, and in space. In 2001, we contemplated a world that had shed most of the tensions associated with the cold war, and watched as several nations assembled the world's first International Space Station.