( CNN ) -- Forget almost everything you ever thought you knew about the moon . NASA 's latest missions indicate the moon is much more than a dead , unchanging satellite orbiting Earth . It 's a dynamic environment , with changes occurring by the day and week , not over millions of years . The space agency says the missions are rewriting lunar science text books and revolutionizing what scientists know about Earth 's closest neighbor . An announcement in November probably rivaled Neil Armstrong 's first steps on the surface more than 40 years earlier : There 's water on the moon . The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite , or L-CROSS , and its companion spacecraft crashed into a crater at the moon 's south pole in October and discovered water in a very dark and very cold place . L-CROSS researchers said about 25 gallons of water were detected in the crater , which measured about 60 feet wide by a few feet deep . Michael Wargo , NASA 'S chief lunar scientist on the L-CROSS mission , said the probes detected more than water in the crater , but researchers are still trying to understand what the other stuff is . `` We 're opening new chapters . And in fact , because some of this information is so new and it 's so different from the way we use to think about the moon , there are chapters that are blank right now , '' he said . You know that they 're going to written , but we do n't even know the questions yet that are going to be engendered from this new information . '' Wargo describes the lunar data as a treasure trove . The moon `` is like the dusty attic of the solar system , in that things get collected there and they give you insight , not just into the moon , but the evolution of the solar system . '' Earthbound explorations , such as Lewis and Clark 's historic journey to the Pacific Ocean in the early 19th century , carry critically necessary items , but they have no need to haul wood or water . That 's not so for manned space flight . Those missions will have to carry all the supplies necessary for survival unless they can manufacture some of them either in flight or on a planet 's surface . The presence of water and other compounds on the moon means there are potential resources that could sustain future exploration of the moon and beyond . NASA is also mapping the moon 's surface in unprecedented detail , eventually creating the first moon atlas . The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , which launched last summer , is the robotic scout that is providing the data . LRO is on a mission that could last several years -- orbiting the moon and gathering crucial data that will help astronauts prepare for another visit . Wargo said LRO is carrying high-resolution cameras , which have now mapped about 50 areas on the moon , including the Apollo mission landing sites . `` We have cameras on board that have been able to image where the Apollo spacecraft landed , and you can literally see where they put down their scientific packages , where the astronauts walked on the moon , '' according to Wargo . The LRO discovered it 's extremely cold in the permanently shadowed polar craters , where temperatures dip more than 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit , or 249 degrees below zero Celsius . That 's not far from absolute zero , defined by international agreement as 273.15 degrees below zero Celsius and a temperature that can not be physically reached . These are the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the solar system . The LRO is also measuring space radiation on the moon . Astronauts will need protection from this radiation during expeditions to the moon and other destinations . All this information is critical if humans are to make it back to the moon by 2020 , the the target date set by the Bush administration in 2004 . But it 's more than that . Wargo sum it up this way : . `` We used to think of the moon as this really dead and unchanging place , that the moon was a dead planet . ... There are changes that occur there not over the course of thousands or millions or even billions of years , but are changing over the course of days and weeks and months . That 's something people just had n't thought of until just weeks and months ago . ... This is n't your grandfather 's moon anymore . ''
NASA 's latest missions indicate the moon has changes occurring by the day and week . Space agency says the missions are rewriting lunar science text books . Comment: Lunar orbiter is taking pictures of leftover material from Apollo landing sites .