Icy Moon
There is ten times as much water on the Moon as scientists thought and it may also be easier to collect.
Further analysis of data recorded by the Lunar Prospector spacecraft reveals that the ice is concentrated in smaller areas than had been assumed, reports Bill Feldman of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He says these areas "look like they overlie permanently shaded regions at the north and south poles."
Feldman estimates the total amount of water at three billion tonnes, enough to fill a lake about 100 metres deep and 6 kilometers across. If he's right, the water could be in a series of icy layers, making it easier to recover than if it was dispersed thinly through the lunar surface layer.
New Scientist, 12 September 1998, p. 23.
THAN HAD BEEN ASSUMED. Qual a melhor tradução de "to assume"?