News

As NASA prepares to return to the moon, one of the many exciting opportunities scientists are preparing for is the ability to use the water that exists there to support human exploration.

The presence of water has been a relatively recent discovery, opening up many exciting possibilities for future exploration and just as many questions about that water’s origins.

In the late 90s, NASA’s Lunar Prospector mission found extra hydrogen at the poles, and where there’s hydrogen, there might be water.

Enter the LCROSS mission, designed to determine the type and amount of hydrogen that might be present just below the moon’s polar regions.

Tony Colaprete, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, was the principal investigator for the LCROSS mission.

“To determine the form of hydrogen at the poles, we needed a way to access material below the Moon’s surface. So we carried a piece of the Atlas rocket we launched on all the way to the Moon and directed it into one of the large permanently shadowed craters near the south pole, which caused a plume of dust and debris to shoot upwards,” Colaprete explained.

“We had a probe with nine different measuring instruments, following the plume’s 10 mile (16 km) upward trajectory. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft was also making observations of the plume while mapping the lunar surface from its orbit around the Moon. The lunar dirt in the plume hadn’t seen the Sun in over 2 billion years. In the sunlight, among other metals and gases, we found water - about 5 percent by weight,” he said.

“Now, we know there’s water on the Moon,” said research scientist Jen Heldmann, also at Ames.

She explained why the discovery is much more than just a scientific curiosity.

“Ultimately, I believe we’ll be living on the moon for extended periods of time, so we need to take advantage of whatever resources we can find there. Water is H2O; a combination of hydrogen and oxygen. And we can break it apart. So now we have a source of hydrogen and oxygen that may be able to be used for rocket fuel, as well as a source of oxygen for breathing. Water on the moon gives you a new paradigm for future space exploration. Very exciting. “

In the 10 years since the LCROSS mission, we have continued to study water at the lunar poles from orbit with instruments on several missions. But we still have lots of questions.

Where, for instance, did the water come from? Some believe that the water and other volatiles could be the remnants of comet impacts from long ago.

Others point to recent meteorite showers that can be seen producing vapor - are they continuing to replenish the moon’s water?

And where exactly is the water? We’ve confirmed it exists in Cabeus crater near the moon’s south pole where LCROSS impacted. But how plentiful is it? And can we expect to find it in other super cold regions?

Colaprete said, “We won’t be able to answer any of these questions with certainty until we visit the south pole with robots and astronauts.”

Through the Artemis program, NASA is planning to do just that.

Thirsting for more information about the changing science of the moon? Visit http://science.nasa.gov.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Firefighters gained ground on the Kincade fire on Saturday but concerns about the impacts of an incoming weather system led to many more Sonoma County residents finding themselves under evacuation orders or urged to prepare to leave.

During the course of the day Saturday, the Kincade fire, burning since Wednesday night, grew only 500 acres; the evening Cal Fire report on the fire said it was up to 25,955 acres, with containment up slightly to 11 percent.

Cal Fire said that so far 77 structures have been confirmed destroyed in the fire, while 14 are damaged. Another 23,500 are threatened by the blaze.

A massive firefighting force including approximately 2,830 firefighters and 251 engines are assigned to the incident. On Saturday, Cal Fire extended its estimate for the time of full containment to Nov. 7.

The acreage itself didn't grow significantly Saturday thanks to aggressive efforts by firefighters on the ground and air resources, including federal tankers that criss-crossed the state throughout the day to make retardant drops in the fire's remote and rugged footprint.

Even so, as firefighters made progress, the number of evacuations ballooned on Saturday as officials looked at an incoming weather system that they fear could cause the fire to spread into many Sonoma County communities.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning that went into effect at 8 p.m. Saturday due to forecast winds from the northeast of between 25 and 40 miles per hour, with gusts between 70 and 80 miles per hour.

Concerns about those winds and their impact on the fire behavior, coupled with the impending public safety power shutoff from Pacific Gas and Electric, led to calls for widespread evacuations, officials said.

Healdsburg and Windsor residents were ordered to evacuate on Saturday morning, with Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick asking them to be out of the area by 4 p.m., ahead of the shutoff and nightfall.

Then, on Saturday evening, tens of thousands more Sonoma County residents were ordered to leave their homes when authorities issued mandatory evacuations for all areas west of Sebastopol, north of Bodega Highway, and south of Stewarts Point-Skaggs Springs Road, including Bodega Bay, Dry Creek Valley, Fulton, Forestville, Guerneville, Jenner, the Mark West/Larkfield area and Occidental.

Later in the night, Cal Fire reported that an evacuation warning was issued for the city of Santa Rosa, including all areas East of the western city limit, north of Guerneville Road, Steele Lane, Lewis Road and Chanate Road, to Montecito Avenue to Montecito Boulevard to Calistoga Road, north to the city limit.

A number of Lake County law enforcement agencies responded on Saturday to offer mutual aid in Sonoma County where increased law enforcement patrols are in effect in the large evacuation area, according to Essick.

In Lake County, Sheriff Brian Martin said Saturday that evacuation warnings remained in effect for Cobb Mountain and a number of surrounding communities.

Martin said the fire had moved into Lake County on Friday but was still a couple of miles away from south county communities.

Out of an abundance of caution Martin issued the warning, asking people to be prepared in the case that a mandatory evacuation becomes necessary.

The forecast winds are expected to push the fire away from Lake County and back toward the Sonoma County communities where evacuations have been expanded.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric said Saturday afternoon that it has pushed back some anticipated start times for the public safety power shutoff and will be opening additional community resource centers in Lake County.

The time change impacts Lake County, which was expected to lose power around 4 p.m. Saturday.

PG&E said that estimated time has now been pushed back to around 8 p.m., although residents are urged to expect a margin of error of between one and two hours.

PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras said they’re working to offer as much information as possible in the midst of a dynamic situation.

She said the company’s meteorological team is running forecast models hourly.

The goal, she said, is to minimize the impacts on customers and narrow the scope as much as possible.

“We just want everyone to be prepared,” she said.

As of 4:15 p.m. Saturday, Contreras said no power had been shut off.

The updated phases for the shutoff are as follows.

– 4 p.m. Saturday: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Sierra, Shasta, Tehama, Yuba.

– 5 p.m., Saturday: Colusa, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma, Yolo.

– 8 p.m. Saturday: Alameda, Contra Costa, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino (north), Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Trinity.

– 12 a.m. Sunday: Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa, Tuolumne.

– 9 p.m.: Sunday: Kern.

PG&E also announced that a total of four community resource centers will be open during the shutoff:

– Clearlake Senior Community Center, 3245 Bowers Ave., Clearlake.

– Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, Lakeport.

– Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29, Middletown.

– Upper Lake Unified School District, 725 Old Lucerne Road, Upper Lake.

The centers will provide water, phone charging stations, air-conditioned seating for up to 100 people and restrooms from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the shutoff.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said late Saturday morning that it is moving forward with a public safety power shutoff that will impact a majority of California’s counties.

The company said it is implementing the shutoff as a safety measure ahead of what is being called a historic wind event that’s forecast to bring dry, hot and windy weather to the region starting Saturday between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and continuing through midday Monday.

The number of customers to be impacted by the outage increased on Saturday by 90,000 to a total of 940,000 customer accounts in portions of 36 counties, PG&E said.

The power will be turned off to communities in stages, depending on local timing of the severe wind conditions.

The outage will cover all of Lake County, impacting 37,441 customers, including 2,170 medical baseline customers.

Lake County’s power is expected to go around 4 p.m., as part of the second phase of the shutoff, PG&E said.

However, Sheriff Brian Martin urged people to be ready to have their power turned off up to an hour and a half ahead of the announced time.

PG&E spokeswoman Deanna Contreras separately confirmed to Lake County News that power could go off earlier.

The shutoff will occur in six phases. Times may change depending on weather.

– Phase one, about 2 p.m. Saturday: Amador, Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, Sierra, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba.

– Phase two, about 4 p.m. Saturday: Lake, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo.

– Phase three, about 5 p.m. Saturday: Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus.

– Phase four, about 5 p.m. Saturday: Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne.

– Phase five, about 5 p.m. Saturday: Humboldt, Mendocino (north) and Trinity.

– Phase six, about 10 a.m. Sunday: Kern County.

Sheriff Martin said Saturday that the forecast weather event is expected to be shorter than anticipated, with the all-clear anticipated on Monday morning, rather than Monday evening.

At that point, PG&E said it will begin inspections in order to restore power.

There will be three community resource centers in Lake County available to provide water, phone charging stations, air-conditioned seating for up to 100 people and restrooms.

PG&E said Konocti Vista Casino, 2755 Mission Rancheria Road in Lakeport, and Twin Pine Casino & Hotel, 22223 Highway 29 in Middletown, will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during the outage.

Separately, Clearlake Mayor Russ Cremer said the Clearlake Senior/Community Center will be open and available to residents as a community resource center beginning on Sunday morning. It’s located at 3245 Bowers Ave. Clearlake.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Officials on Saturday morning issued new evacuation warnings and orders in anticipation of further growth on the Kincade fire.

The fire began Wednesday night in The Geysers in northern Sonoma County and as of Saturday morning had burned 25,455 acres, with containment up to 10 percent. The structure loss count remains at 49.

Thousands of structures are now threatened by the fire. On Saturday morning, the number of threatened structures had jumped to 23,500 form 700 the night before.

Authorities on Saturday issued new evacuations orders for the areas of Highway 128 north Knights Valley Area to the Napa County line and the Highway 101 corridor from Geyserville south through the town of Windsor, including the entire city of Healdsburg and the town of Windsor and all areas East to Chalk Hill Road area.

New evacuation warnings were issued for the Dry Creek Valley west to Forestville and Larkfield and Mark West Drainage, according to Cal Fire.

The area east of Highway 128 from Geysers Road north to the community of Geyserville remains evacuated, Cal Fire said.

Sonoma County Sheriff Mark Essick said Saturday morning that the new orders call for the evacuation of 50,000 people.

“We are evacuating because this fire is very dangerous and it is expected to move towards Healdsburg and Windsor this evening,” he said.

Essick said they want the communities evacuated no later than 4 p.m. Saturday, ahead of a possible public safety power shutoff.

On Friday night, the fire’s entry into Lake County near the community of Cobb led to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office issuing an evacuation warning for Cobb Mountain and the surrounding communities of Adams Springs, Hobergs, Cobb, Whispering Pines, Gifford Springs and Anderson Springs, and those residents living on Ford Flat Road and Socrates Mine Road, as Lake County News has reported.

“We’re going to go ahead and keep those warning notifications in place for the rest of the day,” Sheriff Brian Martin said Saturday morning.

He said firefighters had some success working on the fire overnight and that it doesn’t pose an immediate nature to homes on Cobb Mountain.

However, Martin said he wants everyone to be prepared in case they need to evacuate people.

At the same time, authorities are monitoring a wind event expected to arrive on Saturday night that is prompting Pacific Gas and Electric to start a public safety power shutoff across the region on Saturday afternoon.

Martin said the predictions are that the incoming winds will push the fire away from Lake County.

The National Weather Service is reporting that the wind direction will be from the northeast and will push the fire in a southwesterly direction, toward the Highway 101 corridor.

Cal Fire has increased the resources on the fire. It reported Saturday morning that personnel and equipment committed to the incident included 179 engines, 24 water tenders, 10 helicopters, 53 hand crews, 24 dozers and 2,090 firefighters.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A man police sought for a Wednesday morning robbery in downtown Lakeport has been arrested.

The Lakeport Police Department said its officers located and arrested 24-year-old Alexander Gene Gard.

On Thursday, police had reached out to the community for help in locating Gard, who had tried to steal more than $100 in merchandise from Campos Casuals.

A store employee had tried to stop Gard and in the ensuing struggle the employee suffered minor injuries, police said.

Police said Gard had left the stolen items behind following the struggle and then fled on foot through downtown, ultimately escaping.

Officers were able to identify Gard after speaking with witnesses.

After asking for the community’s assistance, the police department said numerous members of the public provided information as to Gard's whereabouts.

As a result, at 11:30 a.m. Friday officers located Gard in the city and arrested him.

He was booked into the Lake County Jail on a felony probation violation and a felony charges of second degree robbery. He’s being held without bail because of the probation violation, according to his booking sheet.

Gard is due to appear for arraignment in Lake County Superior Court on Tuesday, based on jail records.

The Lakeport Police Department thanked all of the members of the public who provided information that led to Gard’s arrest.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.