MOON BOMBING FAILS TO CREATE CLOUD

The "bombing" mission was intended to kick up a six-mile high cloud of debris which scientists hoped would contain signs of water.

But live pictures relayed back from the Moon showed no sign of an impact - even though both craft dived into a darkened crater as planned.

Without an adequate plume of material to analyse, scientists may not find the answers they are looking for.

A British expert who helped the American space agency Nasa pick the location near the Moon's south pole said the lunar surface may not have reacted as expected.

But Dr Vincent Eke, from the University of Durham, stressed it was still too early to know if the mission had been a success or failure.

"If it turns out to be as dull as it looked, I'd imagine the soil just didn't respond as was hoped to being hit," said Dr Eke. "It might mean we don't get sufficient data, which would be a shame."

Dr Eke's team discovered strong evidence of hydrogen - a key component of water - within cold permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles, where temperatures fall to minus 200C.

The latest mission was intended to find out if water ice exists at the bottom of the crater Cabeus, 100 kilometres from the lunar south pole

Finding water, which could be used for drinking, making fuel and providing oxygen, would have major implications for the future of moon exploration. A ready supply of water would make it far more practicable to build lunar bases or launch missions to Mars from the Moon.