Wait, We Just Bombed the Moon?

So, Obama wins the Nobel Prize for peace, just as we go ahead and bomb the moon. Don't worry it's not alien terrorists we're after, just water. Here's what CNN reported:

NASA said Friday's rocket and satellite strike on the moon was a success, kicking up enough dust for scientists to determine whether or not there is water on the moon.

"We have the data we need to actually address the questions we set out to address," said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, mission.

... NASA crashed the rocket and a satellite into the moon's surface on Friday morning in a $79 million mission.

I could think of a few things we could do with $79 million -- like help kick off a public trust fund back here on Earth to ensure adequate infrastructure for safe drinking water.

But then again, I'm no rocket scientist. So why the heck are we doing this? The AFP reports:

Finding water on Earth's natural satellite would be a major breakthrough in space exploration and pave the way toward future lunar bases for drinking water or fuel, or even man living on another planet.

"This could be the place that we could go to mine water for a permanent lunar base," said [Peter] Schultz [a professor of geological sciences at Brown University who helped design the mission].

A permanent lunar base? Sounds like a perfect thing to be working on right now, considering we've got that whole health care crisis, global warming fiasco, cratering economy and endless war situation all figured out. Nice work, guys!